The Shamy Assumption
by TheShamyPerspective
Summary: Sheldon and Amy are finding a way to make their relationship work while everyone else's relationships seem to have crashed and burned. What will happen when everyone decides to put their own failing relationships aside and focus on Sheldon and Amy's relationship?
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: So, I've been in the process of typing this for a while, not complete so I will update as often as I can and whenever I finish. I have the first few chapters or scenes done already, so all i can say is enjoy(:**

**P.S. I don't own any of the characters or stuff like that, leave that stuff to Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. **

**Chapter 1**

Staring at his whiteboard now, full of equations in various colors, he felt somewhat relieved, but not totally. He was a man of science, and his equations always bubbled up the joy he had within him. Any day besides today you could ask him what makes him happy or calms his nerves and he would respond with "Oh, just my equations on my board." Today was different. Staring at the equations scrabbled on the board, he felt a knot tie in his stomach, and he felt his chest begin to hurt. His eyes burned and all he wanted to do was lay down and do absolutely nothing. Whatever had Dr. Cooper like this was a mystery to him.

Sheldon had been staring at his board for quite a while now, trying to decipher the mysteries of the universe, but not getting very far. His mind kept wandering to a certain Dr. Fowler and everything that attracted him to her. _That vixen, always distracting me._Today was not the day, so, capping his marker and tossing it onto his desk, he plopped into his chair and sighed heavily. He contemplated the idea of going to Penny with his situation, but quickly declined upon the thought, because she was most likely suffering through a massive hang over as she had taken the girls out late last night to the 'club'. Normally, he would go to Amy to talk things out, but since she was among the partiers of the night that probably wasn't feeling well this morning, he was forced to either figure it out him self of go get help.

Wolowitz, Kootherpolli, and Leonard wouldn't prove to be much help, as Wolowitz and Kootherpolli would most likely tease him for his sudden realization of feelings towards Amy and Leonard didn't seem to have much experience with the woman either, as he never seemed to keep Penny tied down and under control. He certainly was not going to go to his mother or Meemaw or any of his family members for that matter on this situation, and for a while he considered taking to buss home and disappearing into his room for quite a long time, but there were three obvious flaws in his plan. One, he couldn't just take the buss home, he didn't have his buss pants and the thought of leaving work to get on a buss without his buss pants was terrifying all together, but if he asked Leonard or one of his friends to pick him up and bring him home, he would receive endless questioning as to why and he didn't want that. Besides, as Penny, Bernadette, and Amy were probably all intoxicated still, they wouldn't be able to pick him up and Rajesh and Leonard were working, so that wouldn't work either. He could ask Wolowitz, but since it was early in the morning, if he did ask him to pick him up on his day off, he would most likely be sleepy, and driving sleepily is more dangerous that driving intoxicated.

The next problem he ran into with his idea, was that if he were to go home and disappear into his room for a long time, that meant that after a while, the others would soon begin to become worried, as he was sure he was the center of his social circle that he had formed with the help of Leonard, Rajesh and Wolowitz. If this were to happen, most likely Penny would get involved and she and Leonard would come knocking on his door, wondering why he was in there for so long. If he refused to come out, Leonard would more than likely phone his mother, which he absolutely did not want to happen and she would definitely find some way to drag him out of his bedroom whether he liked it or not.

However, if he were to go disappear into his room for an extensive amount of time, that's the time he would not get to spend with his Amy, and he did not want that. Perhaps he could retire early for work and call a taxi; after all he did have his disinfectant with him. He sighed and refused to continue the thought. There were so many possibilities that he thought through that by the time he was done and realized that he was still at work, it was well past lunch time. That was odd, but at least he was that much closer to being able to go home for the weekend. That's when he finally remembered it was Friday, and it was vintage video game night. However, even that didn't cheer him up.

After sitting in his completely silent office for a while longer, there was a knock at his door. He reluctantly got up and stood by the door. At that moment, he did something that he rarely ever did- he hesitated. "Who is it?" He called. There was a raspy voice in reply on the other side of the door. "It's Leonard! Sheldon, it's time to go." For a moment, he was startled that it was already time to go. He decided not to fight it though, seeing as how he had gotten little work done today and he probably wouldn't get any more done. He grabbed his jacket that was hung over the back of a chair near him and he turned the knob to open the door. In front of him was a ragged looking Leonard, glasses askew and matted hair on his head. He held his car keys in his hand and his free hand was balled up into a fist.

Seeing the state Leonard was in, Sheldon shuttered. "Did you happen to participate in girl's night last night as well?" He thought this was a pretty accurate assumption considering Leonard's current appearance. Leonard replied with sarcasm that Sheldon missed. "No Sheldon, I missed anything could happen Thursday so I could go hunt Elephants at the Super Market with Penny." "That's preposterous." Sheldon replied. "Yesterday, Penny had taken herself, Amy, and Bernadette out for shopping and then drinking. I received a whole text explaining the details from Amy on Comic Book night. Leonard, if you're going to lie right to my face, at least make it believable and consider the facts." Leonard rolled his eyes at Sheldon's statement and sighed. With the Anger pushing in his throat, he almost growled at Sheldon. "Of course I spent the night with Penny, Amy and Bernadette at girl's night Sheldon! With Raj and Howard gone into work late, the thought of being alone with you on Anything Can Happen Thursday was not something I wanted to experience." Sheldon visibly winced at Leonard's statement and Leonard seemed to visibly calm down seeing Sheldon look so terrified.

Leonard had turned to walk towards the building's exit and Sheldon mumbled some things under his breath before following him. The car ride was painfully silent for Sheldon wanted nothing more than to leave. It would be about another ten minutes before they even got remotely close to their apartment. However, they were right down the road from Amy's apartment. Sheldon wasn't sure he could handle a drunk or hung over Amy, but anything seemed to be better at this point than this silence between him and Leonard. So, while they were at a red light Sheldon cleared his throat and spoke up. "Leonard, would you mind dropping me off at Amy's? There are some things I wish to discuss with her." He honestly didn't plan on discussing anything with her, and he pondered the idea of what he would even have to offer if she wished to discuss something with him. It was the slightest lie towards Leonard and Sheldon could feel his eye twitch. He hoped Leonard didn't notice.

"Uh… Sure I guess…" Leonard replied, although in his head he was jumping with joy at the thought of a Sheldon-free evening. That joy was soon replaced with curiosity at what Sheldon planned to discuss with Amy and that curiosity was soon over ridden with confusion, as to why Sheldon needed to question anything in his relationship at all. Meanwhile, Sheldon had his neck turned to face the window so Leonard couldn't see his face turn a scarlet red. He was desperately trying to cover his obvious erection and it was not working to well. He was getting infuriated because now he could no longer even enjoy a simple yet awkward car ride without Amy coming into his thoughts and causing him to become aroused. This would not do. He had to get rid of his erection before he faced Amy. If it did not go away by the time they arrived at Amy's, he would need to go somewhere where he could do they unthinkable- self abuse. He may have to live with not taking a shower afterward as well. This thought frightened him as he shuttered.

Leonard had noticed Sheldon turn scarlet because he really wasn't good at hiding it, but he decided not to question is, as it was probably just Sheldon being Sheldon. Luckily, he did not notice Sheldon's erection. After a few moments more of waiting, the light had finally turned to a bright green and Leonard sped ahead, turned after a few miles and then turned again into Amy's apartment parking lot. Just as Leonard had pulled the car into a parking spot and shifted the gear into park, Sheldon turned to him, pale in the face. "Sheldon, are you sure you're okay?" Sheldon had been reversing Kohlinar in his mind and he had recited all of the elements forward and backwards twice to try and calm his arousal, but it didn't work. He had abandoned the thought of self abuse and now he just thought it would be terrifying to face Amy with his present condition. The thought of Amy being hung over soothed him in this aspect because she might not notice now, although he was not sure how much of her intelligence she would be able to provide to him given if she was hung over.

"Yes Leonard, I assure you, I am fine." His tone sounded rather robotic. "Thank you for bringing me here, I will phone you if I need a ride back." He tipped his head toward Leonard in indication to a nod of thankfulness and he exited the car, all the while trying to hide his arousal. Once he had gotten out of the car and crossed the parking lot, Leonard had shifted the car into reverse and muttered to himself that Sheldon may have just started his own problem that he couldn't get out of. Dismissing the thought until later, Leonard looked over his shoulder, only to find Sheldon nowhere and the parking lot clear. Then, pushing on the pedal, he slowly backed out into the parking lot and sped off into on coming traffic on his way home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**** The car ride back seemed to have Leonard's head full of questions- why did Sheldon seem so embarrassed to be around him? Why did he need to talk to Amy? Why had to miss lunch and gotten barely any work done?" His thoughts bothered him so much that he almost got ran over by a semi truck and he almost had a heart attack. He pulled over to the side of the road, quickly used his inhaler, and pulled back into traffic. To distract his thoughts in order to avoid another almost collision, he turned on the radio. The black eye-d peas were playing and he happily sang along in his little raspy voice. Once the song was over, Leonard had made his was into his own parking lot in front of his apartment. Nearly jumping out of his car, he ran towards the entrance and up the stairs, forgetting his key in the ignition, and he burst through Penny's apartment door without knocking. He gasped when he found Penny lying on the floor, covered in vomit. Looking around for something to clean her with, he also gasped when he found Bernadette a few feet away from Penny in the same condition. He wondered how Amy got home- if she was home. He also wondered why Howard hadn't come to get his wife and why on earth he was working now instead of spending time with her.

Shrugging at the thought, he lightly shook penny and Bernadette awake. "Come on guys, it's late in the afternoon and you guys should really get cleaned up." Penny was unresponsive but was snoring, whilst Bernadette attempted to sit up and groaned when she couldn't. She also had tried to open her eyes but when the light hit her, she mumbled and snapped her eyes back shut. Sighing, Leonard got up and made a stride towards Penny's kitchen to get the woman each a glass of water and a pain killer, only to find that Penny had no dishes clean. He contemplated grabbing two dishes out of the sink and washing them, but he feared the sound might hurt the two hung over woman so he made his way back to where Penny and Bernadette lay he gently he said "Penny, Bernie, I'm going to go across the hallway to get you two some water and pain killers, I'll be right back." He received a slight moan from Penny, whilst Bernadette only mumbled something that Leonard could not understand. Quietly, he made his was towards her door and let himself out so he could walk over to his apartment. When he got to the apartment, he found it locked and he jammed his hand into his pockets, searching for his keys. Cursing, he realized that he had forgotten his keys in his car ignition. Mumbling something, he reluctantly made his way back down the stairs and exited the building once more, only to find that his car was gone. Sighing louder this time, he could feel tears in his eyes. Someone had just stolen his car, this was just great. Well, now at least he didn't have to go pick Sheldon up. Deciding it was a matter he would have to figure out later, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed 911 to inform them that his car had been missing. Once he had given them all his information and hung up, he made his way back into the building and back up the stairs.

While he was walking up the stairs, he remembered that he had given a key to his apartment to Penny, so gently letting himself in her apartment once more, he made his way over to her counter to search through her bowl of keys. It was then he heard Penny call to him. "Leonaaaaaaaaard. Where are my pain killers? Aaaaahhhhhh." "Yeah, well here's the thing Penny." He started while moving toward her. "I needed your spare key to get into my apartment because somebody stole my car." "Oh… Well… Yeah, Amy… Amy had those…." "Oh great, and Amy's at her apartment with Sheldon. How am I supposed to get into my apartment now?" "Oh honey." Penny replied with. "Oh honey, honey, honey…" She drifted off to sleep and Bernadette groaned whilst rolling over. "She's not… She's not at her apartment. Oooow." Her eyes snapped shut and she rolled back over, groaning into the floor. "Then where is she?" Leonard demanded. Bernadette waved her hand in the air towards the direction of his apartment. She went in there earlier today, to see Sheldon. I haven't heard from her." Sighing, Leonard thanked the girls and told them that he should be back shortly with their pain killers.

He walked over to his apartment and jiggled the knob, only to find it still locked. He didn't want to hurt Amy by knocking on the door and possibly waking her, but he had to. *Knock Knock Knock* "Amy!." He called. He heard grumbling and the faintest "What?" come from his apartment. "I need you to open up the door for me. I'll take care of you, Penny and Bernadette." He waited for a reply for what seemed like hours. "Why can't… Why can't you just… Come in?" She questioned from inside. Sighing, Leonard replied with "Someone stole my car and inside my car were my keys to the apartment." He heard shuffling inside and moments later, a disheveled Amy, covered in vomit, hair askew, crooked glasses and bags under her eyes. She groaned. "Come on in Leonard." "Why are you here?" He asked her. She made her way over to the couch and plopped down on her stomach and groaned some more before replying. "I'm here to see Sheldon." Filling up the glasses as quietly as he could, he grabbed pain killers and walked towards Amy who was still occupied in his living room. "That may be a problem. Sheldon asked me to drive him over to your apartment so he could discuss some things with you. He sounded pretty serious. At the rate this is going, he should be calling me any moment asking for a ride back and I will have to explain to him that my car had gotten stolen and I cannot pick him up." Sighing, he handed the now sitting up Amy a glass and a pain killer. She seemed grateful and took it almost immediately. "Give me my key back and come with me over to Penny's apartment so I can take care of you guys. Without a word, she got up and followed him to the door, but stopped abruptly once there. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Oh, nothing. It's just… Sheldon's bed, you may want to… clean it… before he gets back." That's all she said and she left Leonard curious as to what she had done to his bed.

Once they had made their way back over to Penny's apartment, Leonard had made his way over to Bernadette, shook her gently and handed her a glass and pain killer once she had sat up after groaning. Then, he quietly walked over to Penny, shook her gently and woke her as well. She had been reluctant to sit up, but complied and took the glass and pill provided to her by her best friend. After leaving the girls for a moment and tidying up, he had made his way back to where they were still sitting and Amy started to sob.

"What's wrong Amy?" He asked her. Penny and Bernadette had also seemed to notice Amy's sobs and they turned their attention to her, before lying themselves back on the ground. "You said…. You said that Sheldon… You said that he… Had some things… He wanted to… He wanted to talk about…." Leonard nodded and waited for her to continue. "I pushed him…. I pushed him and now… And now… And now he's going to… He's going to break up… With me…" Leonard was so confused and Penny and Bernadette didn't seem to notice or care. They still lie on the ground, unmoving. "Wha…" He questioned her. "Why would you say that? How did you push him?" At this point, he was expecting the worst. "Can we… Can we not talk about this right now?" She asked him between sobs. "Yeah, sure… Okay." He said, and he moved away from her to go and collect things in Penny's apartment to help clean the girls up. "Does anyone still need to vomit?" He asked the room full of girls. They answered no almost in sync and he nodded to himself. "You guys are all full of vomit. You need a quick shower." With that, he walked over the Bernadette who was now sitting and craning her neck towards him. " I don't think I could…" She hiccupped before continuing. "I don't think I could shower myself… I'd slip and fall and break my neck…" She giggled and hiccupped once more. "Would you mind bathing me?" Leonard turned scarlet and she quickly added "Just don't tell Howie." Whilst giggling again. He couldn't refuse, after all he had offered to take care of them. Sighing, he told the girls he would be right back and he made his way into the bathroom. Pulling out his phone, he dialed Howard's number. He answered rather quickly.

"Yeah?" Howard answered. Leonard could hear people in the background. "Okay, look Howard. Bernadette has a hangover and I offered to take care of her and Penny and Amy while you and Raj were at work. Is that okay?" He paused for a moment. "Yeah Leonard, that's find. I'm going to pick Bernie up tomorrow after work, as Raj and I have some stuff to do and I'm sure she wouldn't mind spending more time with Penny, as they both have to work early tomorrow anyway." "Okay Howard, just making sure." He replied, and then hung up.

Grabbing two clean towels from the cabinet in the bathroom, he draped both of them over the shower. Then, he stumbled back into the living room to retrieve Bernadette, only to find her lying down now, in a pile of vomit. Penny was still lying on the floor, and Amy had joined her now, and they both appeared to be sleeping. Upon hearing Leonard enter the living room, Bernadette sat up and giggled. Leonard sighed and grabbed Bernadette under her knees and her neck, picking her up. Then he carried her all the way into the bathroom. He sat her on the toilet seat and told her to wait a moment while he got the water running for her shower. She complied and giggled some more. Then, once the water was running, he turned to Bernadette, "Do you want me to… Uh… Help you… You know…. Undress… Or do you… Do you want… Do you want to do it yourself?" Leonard could feel his cheeks turning flushed and Bernadette giggled some more. "Help me!" She cried in her high pitched voice. Leonard hesitated for a moment before proceeding to help her tear her clothes off. He was now looking at one of his best friend's wife and it felt extremely awkward.

Once he had helped her into the shower and helped clean the vomit out of her hair and body, he turned the water off for her and helped her out of the shower. She nearly slipped on the tile floor and fell into Leonard's waiting arms. She giggled again and for the hundredth time that night, Leonard felt his face flush once more. "Bernadette, do you have your clothes for work tomorrow? Do you have something you can change into?" HE asked her. "Yeah, yeah, silly." She replied with, sounding tipsy. "My bag is in Penny's room… and it's purple…" She giggled a bit and Leonard told her to wait on the toilet with the towel wrapped around her hair and body while he went to grab her bag from Penny's room. Once in her room, he found that it was a complete mess, much like the rest of her apartment. He told himself that once he had gotten them all showered, he would clean up her apartment a bit for her. He would do anything for her, even if she had just recently rejected him telling her than he loved her. With the velvety bag in his hand, he made his way over to the bathroom, closing the door behind him and handing the bag to Bernadette. She assured him she would be fine to change herself, and she walked out into Penny's room. Leonard followed her and stood in front of Amy and Penny. Penny was still sleeping and Amy groggily lifted her head so her gaze was on Leonard's face. He raised a questioning eye brow towards her, as if to ask "Do you need help showering too?" and she seemed well enough to get the message and she answered his thoughts rather quickly, leaving him to sigh with relief. "Don't worry Leonard. I can assure you I am well enough to shower myself. I am in no need of your assistance in this aspect of cleanliness. Although, after I will request that you maybe make me some food, as I have not eaten for quite a while now."

Amy took about the same amount of time in the shower as it had taken him and Bernadette to. While she was in the shower, Leonard had used the time to tidy up Penny's apartment slightly before awakening the hung over blonde so she would be somewhat awake when he had to ask her if she needed help showering. While most couples would find it weird that they were spending so much time together after they had broken up, Leonard was extremely over joyed with the idea. He was always nervous when he got around her and now was no different. His stomach was churning and he felt a million different emotions. His thoughts about Penny however abruptly stopped when they returned to his conversation he had with Sheldon earlier in the car. He had to inform Penny on what she called 'The Shamy.' It all just seemed too much and honestly, he thought that if Sheldon ever lost Amy, he would never find anybody else and he would have to deal with him getting all those cats again. He did not want that.

Once Amy had gotten out of the shower and dressed herself, she stumbled into the living room and found Leonard standing there with Penny waiting for her. "So, did you say that Sheldon was at my apartment? Should I go then? He's expecting me isn't he?" "Uh, yeah Amy. I said I would take care of you, but you seem to have it all under control, so if you're feeling well enough to drive, you may leave." Amy paused for a moment before continuing. "Thanks Leonard." She flashed him a smile and turned towards the now dressed Bernadette and the sleepy Penny. "Bye Bernie, bye Bestie. I'll talk to you guys soon." And with a wave of her hand and a bright smile, she made her way out of the apartment and down the stairs.

"Okay Penny." Leonard said. "What do you say I help get you cleaned up?" He was talking to her as if he was talking to a little kid and he didn't want to scare her away. Truthfully, he didn't want to scare her away. He wanted to stay and help take care of her and hold her and let her fall asleep in his arms. He knew he couldn't push her though, he had to give her time. "Yes Leonard. I would love that." He had guessed that the pills had helped her some, but not totally. "Do you need me to help you shower…?" He could hear Bernadette giggling when he asked her. "I think I'm fine." Leonard was obviously upset about this, but in some ways relieved. He wanted to make sure that she was safe and didn't slip in the shower again, but he was so nervous about seeing her naked again that he didn't know what to do. He had everything planned out in his head that if she needed his help, he would help her. If not, he would go into her kitchen and help prepare a meal for her and Bernadette. "If you think so, then go ahead." He replied, uneasiness catching his voice. Just as Penny got up off of the floor to go into the bathroom, she tripped and almost fell flat on her face, if Leonard hadn't been there to help her. "Shhhh, it's okay Penny." He told her in a quiet voice when he could see the tears welling in her eyes and the stress pulling at her cheek bones. "You sure you can do it? I'd be more than happy to help." He offered. He hoped that she would say yes, that she needed his help, that she needed him to be with her. His face lit up when Penny replied with "Yeah, I guess I do need your help."

Bending down and helping her stand again, he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the bathroom. He could hear Bernadette chuckling behind him. Once he had made it to the bathroom, he placed Penny the same place where he had set Bernadette and got her shower ready. Once it was ready, he turned his attention to Penny, who was gazing up at him, with her big, blue eyes. "What?" Leonard asked her. "Oh, nothing." Penny replied with, her voice cracking. Leonard noticed this and asked her something that he had on his mind. "Do you need me to help shower you and you know… get your clothes off?" He felt uneasy asking her, like he was waiting for her to reject him in the worst possible way, as if he expected it. She noted this, and decided to reassure him on everything he felt uneasy about. "Yes Leonard, I would love that." He seemed taken aback with her statement, as he paused for a moment before moving. He felt like the world had abruptly stopped spinning and he couldn't grasp his thoughts that seemed to wander away from him, as if out of his control. He heaved a heavy breath and stifled a random yawn. "Alright." He told her. He felt his face visibly turn crimson and he felt arousal pushing his limits. This would make the situation even more awkward. Penny seemed a little hesitant at first as well, but she quickly regained hr confidence and pulled her shirt above her head, revealing her bare chest. She realized she had forgotten to wear any undergarments, and she felt herself blush. Next were her pants, which she slipped off just as easily. They reeked of vomit and she tossed them in the corner. There she was, standing in front of him and Leonard was in awe. He missed her so much, but tonight wasn't about his needs, it was about helping her, and being an amazing friend. So, he took a big breath and gestured towards the shower, and felt somewhat relieved with a hint of disappointment when she stepped in. She had claimed that she could wash her hair and body by herself, but when Leonard asked her if she wanted him to leave the go prepare food, she had told him that she wanted him to stay in the bathroom just incase she slipped or needed help. Leonard complied, and he felt dazed as he pictured her naked in the shower, washing herself. The woman that he loved was right next to him, naked, and only a shower curtain separated them.

**a/n So, do you guys like it? Sorry for any errors, I tried. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**a/n I've had this done for a minute but I had to do some editing before I posted it. Enjoy!**

It was late on a Friday evening, and Howard found himself picking Raj up from work and heading to a near by bar. They figured that they wouldn't get another Sheldon-free Friday for a while, so they might as well make the best of it. Howard had had the day off of work but went in later just because he wanted to take Raj to a bar. He had mixed emotions, excitement, curiosity and pleasure, with a mixture of guilt and sadness for having left Bernadette with Penny and Leonard. He wondered what Leonard had meant when he had told him that he was going to take care of his wife after she had a hang over, but he really hadn't put much thought into it. So, it was late Friday night and he was sitting in his grey Chevy Silverado waiting for Rajesh to exit the building and join him in his adventures.

Once he had seen Raj walk into the parking lot, his face lit up with excitement. This was his ideal way of spending a Friday night, he had to admit that he enjoyed playing vintage video games but it was nice every once in a while to go out and do something he felt more than comfortable doing. He felt a bolt of happiness run through him as Raj opened the passenger side door and greeted him with a "What's up duuuuuuudddddeeeee?" He grinned at his Indian friend and wiggled his eyebrows. Just then they both broke out in laughter until they were both near tears. Finally, Howard sighed before answering his friend's question in a voice that sounded similar to Nicholas Cage. "If I were you, I wouldn't be talking to your ghost friend." He knew that his quote had nothing to do with the question, but he still felt accomplished none the less and again, they both broke out into another fit of giggles resulting in more tears. Finally, Raj replied with "Who's ready to go partyyyy? It aint' no party like a kootherparty!" Howard just grinned at his friend and started his ignition, followed by him pulling into the road and speeding towards the nearest bar in Pasadena

It took only a few minutes to get from the university to the nearest bar and that only made Howard more excited. He almost jumped out of his car when he finally parked and he and Raj walked up to the entrance, only to be stopped by a security guard. "Name." he commanded. Raj visibly winced at his tone of voice and Howard seemed a little set back as well, but he quickly regained his composure and stood as tall as he could, was much shorter than the security guard. The security guard had to crane his neck down quite a ways to see Howard. With hit gaze focused on the taller man, he noticed that he had a name tag displayed on his bulk chest. The name tag red 'Jared'. He decided to mess with Howard and came in closer to him as he watched Howard visibly shrink under him. He stifled back a chuckle. He shifted his gaze towards the Indian man with him who was taller than the other, but still shorter than he. The Indian man did not talk, but his eyes went wide under his gaze and he could feel him wince. This was all to entertaining for him. Suddenly, the shorter one spoke up, as if remembering that he had been asked a question. "My name is Howard Wolowitz, Nation Space Station Astronaut, surely you've heard of my work with the Mars rover up in space?" He said this with a sly grin and that seemed to amuse Jared even more. "And you are?" He said to the Indian man standing next to the one who called himself 'Howard'. The Indian man seemed to panic, as if his words had engulfed him to the point where he could not respond. "Oh, he doesn't talk much." Howard said. "He's special. His name is Rajesh Kootherpolli, he too works with space, he is what they call an astrophysicist and he is quite smooth with the ladies." He grinned towards Raj and turned his attention back to Jared.

Jared managed to pull of a strait face at the two's stupidity and say "Sorry, you're not on the list." Howard was obviously upset and Raj looked confused. "No, see, you don't understand. I know the person who's hosting the party and I know for a fact I am on the list." It was partially true as he did know the person who was throwing the party. It was a girl he had slept with once so he could sleep with her insanely hot friend. He knew her name, it was Betty. However, he was certain that his name was not on the list, as he knew that she hated him. She made that perfectly clear when she attempted to run Howard over with her SUV after he cheated on her with her mother. For Howard it was a win-win, until he almost died under a 2 ton vehicle.

"Sorry sir, I'm afraid that still doesn't make you on the list." Suddenly, Howard got extremely defensive and almost growled at the security guard. "Fine. I guess Raj and I will take our business elsewhere." With that, Howard stormed away into the parking lot. Raj hesitated for a moment before following him at a fast pace to keep up. "Dude," He said. "I'm surprised that you didn't make a plan to like sneak your way into the club or something." Howard glared at him and he visibly winced. Howard had a retort ready on the tip of his tongue but reluctantly held it and slyly ginned at his friend instead. "Because I've got something better that we could do." Raj's face looked as if confusion was tugging at his cheeks. "Like what? What's better than partying on a Friday night?" Howard half smirked at his friend's question. "You'll see." He replied.

***Reviews are helpful, thanks(: I don't intend to update 3 a day everyday but I already have like 13 chapters done, so yeah. Enjoy, hopefully this story is not too confusing!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sheldon sighed; he had been waiting for nearly 2 hours on the ground near Amy's apartment. He was starting to think that it may have been a better idea to have gone home with Leonard, but then he quickly remembered that he would probably have offered to take care of a hung over Penny so it didn't concern him much. He wished he would've brought his D.S., as he really wanted to play Mario, but sadly all he had was his can of disinfectant that he kept turning over and over in his hand for the past two hours. He had debated on calling Leonard for a ride home, but then he remembered he had forgotten his phone at his office. He knew that unless he wanted to take the buss home, he would be stuck there until Amy arrived. There was no option for a taxi this time, as Sheldon had no money on him. All he could do now was wait.

Amy had had a drive to her apartment that was uninterrupted and went by very fast. The whole time her mind had been racing as to what Sheldon wanted to discuss with her. She felt the tears start to well up again and this time she could not hold them in. She really did not want to cry right now, because she didn't want Sheldon to see that she had been crying. None the less, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing as she sang one of her song that she usually sang whilst playing the harp. "_Everybody hurts. And sometimes everybody cries. 'Cuz everybody huuuuurrrrrrrttttssss..." There was no stopping the tears now._The rest of the car ride was similar to this, and it felt like ages that she was driving. Finally, she safely pulled into her parking lot, got to her car and was greeted by Sheldon who stood and opened the door for her, a big grin on his face, at least until he saw that she had been crying, then it turned into a deep frown. "Amy, what's wrong?" He asked her. "Is it your hangover? I knew Penny shouldn't have taken you out last night." Part of Amy was touched that Sheldon cared about her so much, but then she remembered why he was standing in front of her, and she was upset all over again. She sighed before replying to her boyfriend. "No Sheldon, Penny did no harm by taking me out last night and no, I am not upset because of my hang over." A look of confusion swept across Sheldon's face as he stood there holding the door for her. "Then what is it?" She really didn't want to come out and say it, so she simply replied with "You know. Come on, I believe you wanted to discuss some things with me." She passed Sheldon rather quickly and gracefully started gliding up the stairs to her apartment, leaving a slightly confused and aroused Sheldon behind her.

He recovered from his momentarily shocked state and hurriedly followed Amy up the stairs. Their feet were in sync going up the steps and he was rather pleased with this. When Amy had led Sheldon to her apartment, whilst unlocking it, she apologized to him. "Sheldon, I am so sorry that you had to wait for me for such a long period of time. If I would've known that you were going to stop by, I would've texted you and told you that I wasn't going to be here." She glanced at Sheldon's face to see if he was showing any kind of anger in his expression, but he seemed to be all ears and his eyes held the deepest sympathy she had ever saw. Once she had opened the door, she stepped inside, and closed it in front of Sheldon. She knew he would be happy with this, as he loved to do his routine of knocks. She waited for a moment until she heard the *_Knock Knock Knock*_"Amy." _*Knock Knock Knock*_"Amy." _*Knock Knock Knock*_"Amy." And had opened the door to a smiling Sheldon. Why was he so happy? He was about t loose her. This only made her hurt inside. She decided to push her hurt father into her body as she asked Sheldon "Would you like something to drink? I have Strawberry Quick, Yoo-hoo or water? Perhaps a diet coke?" She knew her voice sounded shaky and she just wished he would get this over with. He seemed to ponder over his choices for a moment, before deciding that he would prefer to take a bottle of Yoo-hoo. Amy stumbled her way over to her refrigerator, pulled the pink fluid from it and handed it to Sheldon. He smiled at her and replied with "Thank you Amy." in a rather pleasant tone. Whatever act Dr. Cooper was holding up, it sure was stressing Amy out. Sheldon took a sip from his bottle and sat down in his spot on the couch and patted the spot next to him, in indication for Amy to sit there. Amy felt awkward at all costs, so she chose to sit on the opposite end of the couch. Sheldon visibly frowned at this.

"Amy?" He asked. "Why are you sitting so far away from me?" He held a look of concern on his face and Amy was at a loss for words. "Uh, I just thought it would make matters easier for you." That was the best she could think of. Sheldon seemed to consider this, before responding with "But Amy that would most certainly not make matters easier for me. What would make matters easier for me is if you sat as close as possible." Why was Sheldon torturing her like this? She mentally groaned, but complied, sliding ever so slightly closer to Sheldon. However, that would not do. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close to him. Amy felt a ping of guilt in her heart. Right now she hated him and could not understand why he was allowing all this physical contact. It was only making matters worse. "Amy." Sheldon said after a moment of silence." I have a proposal for you." _Great._ Amy thought. This was not going to end well. "Which is…?" She inquired. "Lately, I've had these thoughts." Sheldon paused. _Thoughts about what?_ Amy thought. "I've had thoughts about you… In a certain aspect I knew thought I'd ever feel…." Amy cut him off. This was so confusing; she didn't know where he was going with this. She did know that she didn't want to hear any more. "Sheldon, Look." She stated. Sheldon quickly complied and met her gaze, only to find hers as if she was shooting ice cold daggers his way. He felt uncomfortable and squirmed in his seat. "To make it easier for you, why don't you just get the paper and have me sign it so we can be done with this and just forget it ever happened?" Sheldon's face now held a look of horror. "What paper? Why would I want you to sign it? So we can be done with what? Forget about what?" He had tears welling up in his eyes, because he knew perfectly well that Amy was talking about their relationship agreement and he could not figure out what he did wrong.

"Seriously Sheldon?" Amy asked. "You're going to make me say it? Fine. Go get the Relationship Agreement, have me sign it and we can terminate this thing right now." Sheldon was beyond horrified. He looked at Amy now as if she just grew several arms and had a monkey growing out of her ear. "What did I do?" He asked. "I don't wish to terminate our relationship Amy, all I wish to do is to make you happy." Before Amy could reply, Sheldon got up off of his spot on the couch, walked over to his messenger bag which was resting on the back of a chair near the door, pulled out a stack of papers and came back to her, handing the papers to her. Her jaw dropped open and Sheldon stood in front of her, locking his gaze on the papers so she wouldn't notice the tears welling in his eyes. "Sheldon…" Amy whispered. "You don't…" "I don't what Amy?" Sheldon questioned. "You don't want to terminate the Relationship?" She asked him, meeting his gaze and noticing the tears starting to form in his eyes. She was too shocked for tears. Sheldon's face returned to a look of confusion. "No…." He stated. "You do though." One tear slid from his eye and down his cheek, and he turned to look away from her. "Look at me Sheldon Lee Cooper." She commanded. He complied, and she saw he not only had one tear now, but several, just pouring out. "I don't want to terminate the Relationship." Again, Sheldon's face masked confusion. "What? You just said you did?"

"Look, earlier Leonard told me you wanted to discuss some things with me, and I thought the worst. I thought I may have pushed you the other day when I had drunkenly asked you how much it would take you to by a bottle of hooch and have your way with me at the hotel across the street."

*Flashback*

Amy was hurt when Penny and Bernadette went bridesmaids shopping without her, and this only resulted in the intake of alcohol. At the time she had thought about bringing her problems to Sheldon, but she knew he would be reluctant to help her. Penny's advice was ringing in her ears. "When you're upset, just do what I do. Drink alcohol." Her hypothesis was correct, as he would have been reluctant to help her. However, he did care for her and he got really upset when he would not get a hold of Amy, so he turned to Leonard for help. "I can't seem to get in touch with Amy! I tried e-mail, video chat, tweeting her, posting on her Facebook wall, texting her... Nothing!" A look of confusion had swept across Leonard's face. "You tried calling her on the telephone?" It was hard to believe that the brilliant Dr. Cooper did not think of calling his girlfriend on the telephone to find out where she was. Sheldon simply replied with "The telephone...!" He paused for a moment. "No... Leonard, in your own simple way, you may be the wisest of us all." When calling her on the telephone did not work, he knew Amy had been emotional. It also helped him figure it out because of the events that happened the previous night between them when the event first occurred. Now, Sheldon was standing by the door of his apartment, ready to open it and yell at Leonard and Howard for what they did. Upon barging in, he stated to the two of them "The two of you need to get your women in line!" to which Leonard replied with "What?" It was completely evident that Leonard was confused, so Sheldon decided to explain.

"Last night, I was strong armed into an evening of harp music and spooning with an emotional Amy Farrah Fowler, this on a night that I had originally designated for solving the space time geometry in higher spin gravity and building my Lego death star. And why? Because your gal pals Penny and Bernadette went out shopping for some wedding nonsense without Amy, an action they took with no thought or regard as to how it would affect me, the future of string theory, or my Lego fun time!" Leonard sat there, slightly amused that Sheldon had gotten so upset, and slightly guilty because he knew that the girls had been planning that and he hadn't informed Amy. "What do you want us to do about it?" Howard questioned, whilst Leonard thought. He wasn't exactly jumping with joy right now; he just wished he could get out of there. Sheldon looked outright insulted, and nearly scoffed at Howard. "You clearly weren't listening to my topic sentence: Get your women in line! You make them apologize to Amy and set things right! I am a man of science, not someone's snuggle bunny!" Leonard had heard that, whilst deep in thought, and struggled to stifle back a giggle. He then turned serious felt this was not fair. "Why do I have to talk to Penny? She's not my girlfriend." A ping of hurt ran through his chest, but he chose to ignore it. Sheldon chose to state the obvious to Leonard's question. "You invited her to lunch four years ago. Everything about her is on you, you make it so!" All Leonard did was scoff at his room mate.

"Amy, we're really sorry." Bernadette said, sympathy masking her voice. "Yeah, we feel awful." Penny had agreed. Amy was not hearing any of it, she felt hurt, lonely, and confused. "Don't. I'll be okay. You're not the first girls I thought were friends with me who ended up shunning me. It's like elementary school, junior high, high school, undergrad, grad school and that semester abroad in Norway all over again." Shuddering at the thought, Amy deeply sighed and turned her attention toward the two women standing in front of her. With the apology gone horribly wrong, after the two girls had left Amy decided to go to a near by liquor store and purchase a bottle of alcohol. She then walked into the empty parking lot that she was nearest to and began chugging the bottle. She stopped after a moment, and slowed her pace.

She was now nearing towards the end of the bottle and she wasn't exactly sober. She had seen Sheldon approaching and she got the biggest grin on her face and she greeted him with "Hey, Cuddles!" Leonard was with him, as he had driven him and he looked confused. He turned to Sheldon. "Cuddles?" Sheldon scoffed at him. "Yes, we cuddled. Grow up, Leonard." He turned his attention back towards Amy. Both the guys were looking at her now and it felt good to her. She flashed a drunken smile towards Sheldon and asked him "Sheldon! What would it take for you to go into that liquor store, buy a bottle of hooch, take me to that hotel across the street and have your way with me?" She giggled and Leonard pursed his lips, whilst turning his attention towards Sheldon as well. "Yeah, Sheldon, what would it take?"

Sheldon was visibly uncomfortable as he glanced from Leonard to Amy and back to Leonard. "I'm begging both of you, please, stop!" He requested, raising his tone slightly. It was because of this that Amy felt she may have pushed him. However, she was too drunk to care at the time and Leonard had helped her up off of the curve with Sheldon's help and together they managed to help a staggering Amy to her car.

*Present*

"So, I thought you may have wanted to terminate the Agreement and I was just trying to make it easier for you." At this point, Amy had tears of her own forming but she forced them back. "Amy." Sheldon said gently. "Sit down and I will finish telling you what I wished to discuss with you." Amy complied and sat closer to Sheldon now. "Again, lately I have had these thoughts about you that I have told myself I would never have about anyone. Thoughts about being with you, holding you, kissing you, cuddling. I'll admit the first time I tried any of these things, I was frightened." Sheldon paused and met Amy's gaze, holding it for about 3 seconds while he fought the urge to kiss her right then. "I realize I cannot run from my fears forever. I have also realized that doing those things would make you happy Amy, and that's all I want to do is make you happy, so I will not object to putting these aspects in our Agreement under a Physical relationship section that has been currently marked off." Amy was at a loss for words for the second time that night. Sheldon waited for her to reply and he did not seem to be in a hurry, so she chose her words carefully. "Sheldon, I would love to add those to our Relationship." She paused. "But I want to do those things with you because you want to, not because you just want to make me happy and it's in a contract that says you have to. I want you to be happy too, I need you to be happy."

Sheldon seemed to have considered her argument before continuing. "Amy, that's just the thing. I do want to do this with you, that's what my thoughts have been about most recently. It does indeed make me happy." He decided to skip the part about his unexpected arousal that very morning to avoid humiliation. He stretched his hand out and gently laid it upon Amy's cheek, rubbing it ever so slightly. He could feel her hot tears against his hand. He felt terrible for making her cry. He hoped maybe the new compromise they had reached would help make up for this. Suddenly, Sheldon leaned closer to the still shocked Amy until their foreheads were touching and his lips were only centimeters away from hers. For a moment, Amy thought for sure he was going to kiss her. Then, he panicked and shot up off of the couch and ran out of the room, calling to Amy over his shoulder "It's not in the agreement yet!"

***Thank you for the lovely reviews! Just to let you know, this story takes place at the end of the fourth season(: **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"That little… that little…" Howard growled under his breath to Raj who sat by his side, a stunned look on his face. "I still don't see how this was a good idea." He stated clearly not as upset s Howard but not exactly jumping for joy either. "Just wait until I yell at Sheldon for this…" Howard hissed towards the computer lying in front of him. After their failed attempt at getting into a bar, he had decided to take Raj back to his apartment and watch some videos. He had recently set up a hidden camera to take video in Sheldon's bathroom, as Penny did most of her showering there now. He had strategically avoided all of Sheldon's scheduled shower times though- the thought of Sheldon in the shower made him shudder. Suddenly, Raj's voice seemed to rip at his anxiety and anger even more. "I don't think that would be a good idea." He said, his Indian accent quite noticeable. "Oh and why is that?" Howard questioned, anger rising in his throat as he heard his pitch get slightly higher and his increase in speed as he let his words tumble of his lips. "Dude, it's Leonard." He simply stated. "He'd freak if he found out what you did, and it would be awkward when we hung out again." Howard could hear the drawl with in Raj's last few words and it didn't comfort him. "So what am I suppose to do? Just not care and let him gaze at my naked girlfriend like that?" He scoffed towards Raj and could feel him wince. "Well…. No…." He said, rather quietly, looking down at the ground. "Then what do you suggest I do?" Howard nearly yelled.

"I don't know!" Raj shot back, hurt in his tone. "Stop yelling at me." His lip began to quiver and Howard sighed whilst resting his pointer finger and index finger on the bridge of his nose, pinching it. "You know what, fine." Howard barked, refusing to meet Raj's gaze. He then got up and grabbed his jacket, turning only slightly to see Raj's confused expression. "You coming?" He asked rather hastily. "Where are we going?" asked Raj, slightly relieved that his friend was no longer yelling. Howard didn't bother replying, he just walked out the door, leaving it open for when Raj decided to follow. Reluctantly, Raj rose from his spot on the couch and made his way over to the door.

Raj had barely made his way out of the door when he had followed Howard out the door, but it took him a couple minutes. He had made his way over to Howard's fridge and gazed upon its contents for several seconds before a couple of glass bottles caught his attention. He knew he only needed a couple gulps for him to be able to talk to Bernadette and sort things out if she was there and maybe show her some of the poems he had written for her, but tonight for some reason he found comfort in drinking and downed three whole bottles of beer in a matter of minutes, before drunkenly making his way out the door. Unfortunately, he was too distracted to remember that he had forgotten to close the door. So, he left the door wide open, with four more bottles of beer to down in the car. They had both been at Howard's place so Raj didn't exactly have anything with him. Howard's mother had surprisingly been too distracted with her new friend at his place to even bother checking up on the boys like she usually did. In fact, Howard was so caught up in his plans for the night that he forgot he was suppose to pick her up, but he didn't care.

The car ride was filled with Raj babbling away, despite the fact that Howard was furious still. Whilst driving, Howard shot icy glares in Raj's direction but he kept spitting words everywhere as is he just learned how to talk and would not stop. He left peace in Howard's ear for a moment when he paused but then a new sound filled his ears, the sound of vomiting as Raj had furiously pressed the button to lower the car window and was now continually puking out into the road. He was pretty sure this wasn't legal and he really hoped there were no cop cars near. He really couldn't afford a ticket, Bernie would kill him. He sighed loudly and continued driving. They were only a short way from Los Robles when Raj finally shut up, and Howard was very grateful. Upon arriving at the apartment, Howard pulled into a parking space, silenced the engine and turned to Raj, who was now eagerly bouncing in his seat. "What are you so happy about?" He questioned his Indian friend. For a moment, Raj looked confused, but he held that devilish grin on his face. He looked like a three year old who had just eaten ice cream but wasn't suppose to. "Nottthhhhhiiiiinnnngggg Duuuuuuuuuuddde." Raj slurred his words at Howard and Howard rolled his eyes. "Okay then."

As if on cue, Howard remembered why they were going to the apartment and became angry again as he stomped into the building and up the stairs. Raj was quite a few paces behind, considering that he couldn't walk very well. Once Howard had gotten to the fourth floor, he paused. He hadn't thought out what he was going to say to Leonard when he confronted him, he just thought it would all come out. He took a deep breath and burst through the door, only to find the living room empty, and the distant sound of a shower coming from the bathroom.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**a/n I apologize for the short chapter, and the long wait for more, as I have been in the Dominican Republic. Next chapter should be up soon. **

It was now that Sheldon found himself standing outside Amy's apartment building shivering. The sky held big, puffy, white clouds that didn't necessarily make you think it was going to rain, but at that moment they did happen to block the sun. The wind wasn't helping either. Sheldon estimated that it was probably 15-20 mph winds. He started pacing around to keep warm. _How am I going to get home?_ He thought. _I have no money, so a taxi is not an option._He pursed his lips into a thin line, deep in thought. _I don't have my cell phone, so I can't call Leonard to pick me up._He stopped pacing for a moment then chuckled to himself. "Who would want Leonard driving anyway? He was obviously suffering from the events that occurred last night. Cooper, you crack me up." His chuckling had subsided abruptly and he began his pacing again. _You don't have your buss pants with you- you should really have a pair of those with you in your messaged bag._ He stopped then- his messenger bag.

He had forgotten it in Amy's apartment. _Drat._Now he was going to have to go back there and grab it. He hoped while he was in there again Amy would not make him succumb to his baser urges, but he made himself no promises. Sighing, he turned around only to be knocked down off of his feet and on to the pavement. Once he could open his eyes again, he found that one of Amy's neighbors- a teenager- had blasted him right in the face with a powerful hose. He hissed under his breath. He was soaking wet and scowling. Just then, the teenager approached him. "What's wrong Mr.?" He asked in the most innocent voice. Sheldon huffed, trying to catch his breath. The teenager shot him a sly gin and raised the hose once more, seeking for Sheldon to raise his arms in defeat. When he just sat there with a look of horror on his face, the teenager dropped the hose and proceeded to kick him- hard- in his man hood several times. Sheldon winced multiple times from all the pain and he had shut his eyes closed tightly. When he opened them, there were now several teenagers surrounding him and they almost instantly joined in, kicking and punching his face as well as his manhood. He whimpered out in pain and suddenly he heard a shout from one of the directions as the teenagers scattered. He heard doors slam and then everything went quiet except for the occasional car that drove by.

He didn't trust his legs at the moment so he lay there on the pavement for a while longer before rising off the ground and slowly limping towards Amy's apartment to retrieve his bag. He took one step, winced at the pain and almost fell to the ground once more. When he steadied himself, he lightly ran a finger across his face, only to find it swollen. He didn't want to face his girlfriend with a hurt face and hurt genitals. Unfortunately, he had no other option so he continued walking again.

After about ten minutes or so, he finally made his way to the entrance of the building. He decided that he didn't want anybody but Amy to see him in this state, so he kept his head down on the ground. It was a slow, painful process to make it up the stairs, but he finally did and he found himself inches away from Amy's door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**a/n Another chaper! the next one may take a minute to upload, but I will try to before or during this weekend. Enjoy!**

Amy had watched him run out of her apartment in such a hurry that he forgot his bag. She knew that if he had his phone, it would be in his bag and he couldn't call for a ride without it. Knowing her boyfriend so well, he knew that he refused to take the buss without his buss pants so he probably would come back to her apartment soon. She decided that there was no use sitting around waiting for him, so she made her way to her bedroom, gathered a set of blue and white panties and a bra that Penny had helped her pick out, along with a blue night dress that she had also obtained with Penny's help and made her way to the bathroom. Upon setting her stuff on the bathroom floor, she heard the familiar three knocks of her boyfriend at the door, but in a different voice than she had expected. It sounded so fragile and broken, she wondered what had happened to him. Slowly, she made her way to the door to open it for him.

Upon opening the door, Amy held a puzzled look on her face that reflected sympathy. Sheldon was staring at the ground and she could tell something was wrong- after all, she wasn't stupid. "Sheldon, look at me." Amy requested softly. She saw him tense but then whimper slightly and she felt her heart break. Slowly, he lifted his face to meet her gaze and there she stood, stunned. What had happened in the past ten minutes? Tons of thoughts ran through Amy's head at one time that she forgot her mouth was agape.

"Amy." Sheldon said slowly and softly. It hurt him to speak, but it was not possibly for Amy to just read his mind, he needed to at least say something. "I forgot my bag." The words tumbled out of his mouth and he realized tears were starting in Amy's eyes. Suddenly, he felt himself begin to panic, he hated it when Amy cried. "Uhm…. Don't cry." He offered. "Sheldon's here. I'm… sorry I left so fast…? I didn't…. I didn't mean to offend you…" Upon saying that, he noticed that Amy's tears had only gotten worse. "I'm sorry I didn't…. kiss you…." He shuddered at the thought but Amy's tears just kept coming. He felt extremely awkward standing there now and he'd give anything for Amy to stop crying. His whole body was aching and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open for much longer. "No, Sheldon. It's not that." Amy said between sobs. Sheldon raised his head to look at her, slightly wincing at the pain. "Then what is it?" He questioned.

Whilst waiting for a reply, his mind started to wander. He recalled the time that he had been beaten up in school- he was in fifth grade. When his mom found out, she too started crying. She had stated that it was out of anger towards the kid who had done it and hurt for her 'baby'._Maybe_ he thought _maybe I hurt Amy, but how? I didn't do anything to intentionally upset her. If I didn't then that must not be it. What if. _He paused his train of thought for a moment. _What if Amy is angry with me? _Then sudden realization hit him. _What if she's angry with me and threatens to terminate the relationship?_

Before he could continue thinking, Amy had snapped him out of his thoughts. "Sheldon!" She said, raising her tone slightly. "Were you even listening to me answer your question?" Sheldon had no idea what to say. If Amy was already upset with him, which her tone of voice helped prove, then if he answered truthfully then she would be hurt even more. However, she knew when he was lying and he wouldn't think about lying to her. "Never mind." She quickly said, noting Sheldon's hesitation. "Come in." She said as she stepped aside to let her boyfriend in. "Would you like a hot beverage?" She was about to remind him that he could stay at her place if he needed to, but she had no desire to push her luck, or push her boyfriend's boundaries so she just left it alone.

Upon gazing at Sheldon, Amy realized that his face was masked with confusion, and when he spoke his tone definitely held the same amount of confusion. "But hot beverages are for when one is upset." He met her gaze and paused before continuing. "And I'm not upset. If anything, I should be making you a hot beverage." It was then when Sheldon had pointed out that she had been crying that she raised her hand to wipe her tears away. Sheldon- who was standing a mere two feet from her- continued his train of thought. "But, if you insist, tea will be fine, thank you." "O-okay." Amy stuttered. She turned away from him and took two steps before turning to face him again. "Sit down and we can talk." With that, she turned once again and made her way into the kitchen without looking back. _She wants to talk_. Sheldon thought._Perhaps she's more upset than I thought she was. _Then, realization dawned upon him. _She is going to terminate the relationship…but she can't. I'll be lost without her. _At the thought, he turned pale and suddenly felt extremely nauseated.

He felt trapped, he needed to at least sit down before he passed out, so he made his way over to the couch before tripping and falling onto it instead of carefully sitting in it. He yelped out in pain and Amy hurried over to him, his tea in her hand. She placed the cup on the coffee table near the couch and helped him up. "What happened?" Amy frantically asked. Sheldon tried to keep calm. "I fell, isn't it obvious?" He did a good job of masking his emotions and acting like a kid who simply didn't have them. Amy fought back an eye roll towards him. "No, Sheldon. I mean, why are you hurt? What happened?" Sheldon hesitated answering her, he wished that he didn't have to explain it to her. All thoughts about her terminating their agreement were still there, but he pushed them back. Earlier she had claimed that she didn't want to terminate their relationship, but he wasn't sure now. Penny said those kinds of things to Leonard and turned around and did those things she said she wasn't going to do. He knew he could trust Amy, he just wasn't sure he could trust his own feelings, which is why he ignored them in the first place.

"Amy, what happened was after I left your apartment, I went into the parking lot." He shifted slightly into the couch, indicating that he was done talking for the time being. He felt that this was a good enough answer, but Amy had different opinions. "I figured as much. Then what happened?" She questioned. Sheldon sighed and took in a deep breath. "While I was in the parking lot, I forgot that I didn't have my cell phone to call Leonard for a ride and I didn't have my buss pants, or any money for a taxi, and that I had forgotten my bag here. So, I came back to get it." He paused and Amy looked at him as if to say _Isn't that obvious?_ She looked anxious for an answer and it made him uncomfortable. He looked at her pleading big, blue eyes and just wanted to capture her full, red lips in his and it made no sense to him because he hated physical contact with anyone. They'd only been going out for three years! He figured the sooner he told her, the sooner he could get his bag and abandon the thoughts of her.

""I turned to go back to your apartment and a teenager knocked me to the ground with a very powerful garden hose, then proceeded to kick me in…. places….and when I opened my eyes, he mocked me and now had multiple friends with him, who surrounded me….and again, kicked me…in places…and punched me…in places…" "And by places." Amy interrupted. "What do you mean?" He attempted to answer her question by tipping his head down to his…area… but then felt the pain of moving and froze. He turned a scarlet red from embarrassment and dropped his gaze from Amy to the floor. She decided to drop her question. "Never mind, I think I already have an idea." She mumbled. There was a moment of silence then, with Sheldon looking at the ground and Amy looking the opposite way of her boyfriend, and in that moment of silence, was when Sheldon felt extremely vulnerable. The experience did not necessarily make him feel terrified of going back outside, but it didn't necessarily make him want to repeat the events that happened earlier again either. Before he knew it, he burst into tears


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"I'm done Leonard!" Penny told him through the shower curtain. "Oh, okay." He replied. "So, how do you want to do this?" "What do you mean?" Penny asked in return. "Oh, I don't know." Leonard said whilst fidgeting with his hands. "I didn't know if you would feel comfortable with this and I didn't want to push you or anything." His voice wasn't as firm as he would have liked, in fact, it was more along the lines of shaky and unsure. "I'm completely fine with it Leonard, but if you don't feel comfortable I'm sure I can handle it." Leonard felt a mixture of feelings but he didn't want to leave her alone in his bathroom and have her slip and fall trying to get out of the shower. "No, no, no, no. I'm sure you can handle it too and I really want to do this- I mean like help you. I'd hate to… To leave you alone and… and have you slip and fall or something…" In the hastiness of his reply, he realized he sounded desperate and he quickly covered his mouth with his hand, although why would have been a good question sine Penny couldn't see him at the moment. However, she did chuckle from inside the shower.

"Okay, okay." She said between chuckles. "If you're sure you can do this, I'll be coming out then." Leonard inhaled a quick breath. "Okay." He felt himself tense and quickly squeeze his eyes shut then just as quickly reopen them. Carefully, she slid the shower curtain back, revealing her body and her smug expression on her face. She searched Leonard's face for signs of him being uncomfortable but she couldn't find any. He held a smug facial expression too. She grinned to herself as she carefully stepped out of the shower. "Look, you made it!" Leonard told her nervously but still enthusiastically. "I did didn't I?" Penny said in return. "Who would've thought?" She said sarcastically. "Okay, well I still don't want you to slip and fall on the floor." Leonard told her. "You should probably make sure your feet are completely dry…" She nodded her head towards him and gently dropped the towel a little bit that was around her so she could dry her feet. Leonard's face turned flush at what she revealed and she could see it out of the corner of her eye. Fighting back a giggle, she rose the towel back up and was now facing him. "Thank you for the help Leonard." She said sincerely, in the sweetest of voices. Then, she thanked him once again, but this time not verbally, but with a kiss on the cheek. Leonard was speechless and Penny giggled this time. Just then, her phone rang.

She looked at Leonard who was now eyeing her phone carefully which was on the table a mere three feet from them. "I'll get it…" He told her, not taking his gaze off of her phone. Quickly, he strode over to her phone and checked who the caller was. Very clearly, he turned to her and mouthed the words 'IT'S YOUR MOTHER' to which she nodded and he pressed the green answer button.

After a short silence, Leonard spoke into the Phone. "Oh, no this isn't Penny. This is her friend. Penny's uh… getting ready…" More silence. "The day I guess. Listen, how are you Miss…?" Silence once again, but this time he was nodding his head.

"Oh, no mam. I was not aware that Penny had a boyfriend. I am merely a friend of hers. What do you need?" Penny felt a little guilty for not telling Leonard that she had been seeing someone, after all they had been friends for what, three years now and they had went out once and he was more of a brother to her than her own brother was. She waited for them to finish their conversation. "Well, I can talk to her about it if you'd like and get back to you on it." He pursed his lips and seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before speaking again. "It's Leonard…" He nodded once more before continuing. "Okay, well, talk to you then. Have a good day." A pause. "Yep, you too." Then, as quick as he started, he hung up and replaced her phone on the table before moving towards her again.

"What did she want?" Penny asked, slightly curious. "Oh, she says you still need someone to go with you on your trip back to Nebraska for Thanksgiving. She thought you were going to take Kurt, but I wasn't sure. I told her that I would talk to you about it and we would call her back as soon as possible…" "Wait." Penny said, almost cutting him off. "My mother still thinks I'm going out with that jerk face?" She sighed. "She has no faith in me." She mumbled. "Hey, hey, hey." Leonard said, obviously hearing her mumbling. "She may not have faith in you, but I do. I'm sure you'll find someone who would be perfect for you to take to Nebraska with you to meet your family." Penny suddenly felt very self conscious when she realized that she was still standing in front of him in her towel. "Hey, I'm going to go change.." She said to him. "Uh, yeah, sure." He replied. She made her way over to the door which he had closed, and opened it, only to find herself face to face with a certain Howard Wolowitz and his Indian friend Rajesh Kootherpolli.

Both boys had their gazes on Leonard who was behind Penny, attempting to make himself not been seen, but ending up unsuccessful. However, Howard's gaze only remained on Leonard momentarily, before his eyes flicked over to the woman standing in front of him, in only a towel. He grinned sloppily towards her, to which she gave him a revolted look to mask how uncomfortable she felt as she backed away from the bathroom entrance and closer to Leonard. Raj took his fierce gaze off of Leonard moments after, considering that at this point Raj had no reason to be upset with him. His facial expression softened, and he began to actually notice that they were in the bathroom. That was when he saw her, and a look of panic wiped across his face. He made something close to a squeaking sound and moved closer to Howard. This almost made Penny want to giggle, despite how much Howard was making her uncomfortable.

"Bonjour, belle." He greeted her, whilst sliding closer to Penny with his sly smirk plastered on his face. "Yeah, no." Penny said, firm and disgusted at the same time. Howard back away, eyes slightly wide, the smirk disappeared. "Well then." He retorted. "Why are you here?" Leonard stressed, slightly annoyed because they had barged in, and slightly embarrassed to have been caught with a naked Penny when they weren't dating. "Shut up." Howard retorted, almost cutting him off. Raj gave him a nod of his head to indicate that he agreed. "How could you?" He went on when he saw Leonard's confused expression. "How could I what?!" Leonard replied, near yelling. "How could you help my girlfriend shower?!" He was beyond angry, getting closer and closer to Leonard's face. "What?!" Leonard screeched. "I did not, and I repeat, I DID NOT help your girlfriend shower!" He paused for a moment to let his words sink in before he continued. He didn't exactly lie, he wasn't IN the shower with her, although he had helped her undress… "She had gotten a drink with Penny and both ended up the opposite of sober and I had only taken her back to the bathroom after I saw her and Penny crashed on the floor! Penny is the only one I helped shower, because she needed it!" He was yelling now, just as Bernadette stepped into the bathroom. "Howie?" She inquired in her high pitched voice. Penny let out an exasperated sigh and spoke up. "Could we please stop yelling? My head hurts." Leonard took this as an opportunity to leave. "I'll go get some pain killers and a glass of water!" He told her. He moved towards the door, but Howard stopped him. "Not so fast buddy!" He nodded at Raj to go get them and he left the room in search of the glass and medication. Howard then shot Leonard a death glare, just as Bernadette spoke up. "Howie, what's going on?!"


	9. Chapter 9

Several hours had past by, and he had finally calmed down. Smiling down at him with sympathy, Amy grabbed his empty cup of tea from the coffee table and strode over to the sink to wash it. Moments later, Sheldon was behind her. "You don't have to do that Amy, here let me do it." "No Sheldon it's fine." Amy countered. "But Amy." Sheldon said, strain present in his voice. "I have never shown anybody that kind of emotion before and it has probably over whelmed you. Let me do it." He insisted. "It's fine Sheldon, I told you." She continued to argue, herself becoming slightly annoyed. "Amy, I am the guest in this house hold. If I didn't take care of my own dishes, I can just hear my mom now telling me it's not proper manners. Please, let me do it." After several moments of contemplating and a look into his pleading eyes, she relented, handing him his cup and striding back over to the couch where his bag was sitting. She then sat on the couch, next to Sheldon's spot of course, and waited a few moments until his voice again filled the room.

"Amy, another idea has occurred to me, and I wish to write it down for our game Counterfactuals." He told her. "Would you please bring me my bag, as it has my notebook and pencil in it?" Amy complied with his request and grabbed his bag off of the couch, but upon lifting it off the couch, a document fell out of it and onto the floor. She quickly bent over to glance at the document, seeing that it was her relationship agreement. Skimming over just the top page, she realized it was slightly different, as she had memorized the original version. Holding back a squeal at the thought of Sheldon wanting to take a step forward in their relationship, she quickly but carefully stuffed the document right back into the bag in an almost identical position that it had been in before it had fallen out. Without another thought of it, she exited the living room and entered the kitchen, handing Sheldon his bag.

"Ah, thank you Amy." He said with all sincerity. He looked down at the bag momentarily and then paused before raising his gaze back up to Amy. "Amy, what has gotten you so happy in the past 30 seconds?" Realizing he was completely oblivious as to why she would be happy, she decided to keep it a secret to herself that she knew his secret and she replied to his question with "I don't know Sheldon. Can't a girl be happy that her boyfriend is doing her dishes for her?" "His own dishes." He corrected. Amy rolled her eyes at him, but didn't argue; instead sighed quietly and shuffled back over to the couch. She was oblivious that Sheldon had heard her sigh however. Silently, he contemplated what she may be feeling and if he should go and comfort her.

_Would she be feeling sad? No because she has no reason to be feeling sad. She has the great Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper doing her dishes for her. Happy? Well that didn't sound like a happy sigh, although I can't tell for sure. I don't see why she wouldn't be happy though, she has a great job and the best boyfriend. And that would explain why she had been so happy moments before. If she was so happy though, why was she ignoring it or acting like she wasn't?_ In all honesty, he truly was confused. Deciding to settle this argument with himself later, he chose to go up to her and figure it out from the source. Drying his dish that he held in his hand and stashing it away back in her cupboard, he made his way over to the living room, his messenger bag resting across his shoulder.

Amy looked up, hearing Sheldon enter the room and her face instantly brightened, signs that she was indeed happy. Sheldon had allowed for a look of confusion to pass over his face momentarily, to which Amy responded with a slight frown. "What's wrong Sheldon?" She inquired. She raised her hand to slightly adjust her glasses on her face when Sheldon lowered himself onto the couch, grabbed her arm, and lowered her hand. Then in a quick, swift motion, he adjusted her glasses for her, only using the most gentle of touches. Just as quickly as it had happened Sheldon had with drawn his hand and inched slightly farther from Amy and towards the arm of the couch, whilst Amy had moved slightly closer to him. Amy had been the one to speak up again.

"Sheldon?" Her voice didn't portray a lot of firmness and was slightly shaky. She had no idea what he was doing, and it left her feeling totally confused, as well as a little frightened that he had changed his mind about moving their relationship forward. Amy allowed for several silent moments to pass, in those moments looks of confusion passing across Sheldon's face, before she turned to him and requested that he look strait at her. He complied and they shared a moment of intimacy that only they shared- eye coitus. Sheldon then chose to break their comfortable silence.

"Amy, are you happy?" He asked her. He was only asking to try and clear up his confusion, but honestly it made Amy confused as well. "What are you saying Sheldon?" She asked in return. "This." Sheldon said, moving his hands in multiple directions. "This, whatever this is. Are you happy with it?" For a moment, Amy was still confused. Then, she got defensive. "_This?_" She replied, annoyance present in her voice. "Is that what you call it? _This?_" Amy was getting angry and he had no idea why. She could see him start to mentally recede from the conversation. _What is she talking about?_ He thought. "What are you talking about?" He asked her. She gave him a look that's suppose to mean 'What do you mean, 'What am I talking about'', but seeing the completely blank look he gave back to her, she realized that he truly didn't know what she was talking about. "Is that what you call our relationship, this?" She said, mimicking the motions that he had earlier done with his hands. "No?" He told her.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" She asked him, in more of a calm tone that before. "Telling you." He told her, his voice slightly more firm. "Then what is it?" She asked him, truly confused all over again. "I wanted to know why you are so happy." He told her, his voice all innocent. "When you gave me your bag you just looked happy and when I asked you why you were happy, you countered with a poor reason and you sighed. I couldn't tell your emotions exactly, but I was pretty sure that when you sighed it wasn't out of sadness." He pointed out. Amy then realized that what thought he meant prior to this conversation was wrong and she felt guilty for getting upset with him. "Sheldon, I am sorry I had raised my voice at you, I had assumed some things that were incorrect. That was wrong with me. Please proceed." She paused for a moment and looked at him while he pursed his lips. "Very well then. May I ask you once again, what has made you so happy in such a short amount of time, Amy Farrah Fowler?" Amy wasn't sure if she liked it when he used her full name. In one way, she felt when he used her full name it meant that he respected her, but in a different way, she just thought that when he used her full name he was upset with her.

Amy was never good at lying, but she didn't want to tell him that she had found what was in his bag, so she quickly thought of a lie. "Oh, it's really nothing. I just found out that my favorite T.V show would be on tonight and I haven't seen it in a while, so I hit record in case if I missed it." She saw a look of disbelief cross over his face, followed by a tiny bit of pain in his eyes. It crushed her heart. "Amy, if you'd rather watch your show I understand. I can leave." He said, grasping his bag. He made little effort to get up, but Amy still held him down on the couch. "No Sheldon, please stay. That is not what I meant." Sheldon let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. Amy then noticed the look of disbelief cross back over his face for a moment. "Amy." He said, pausing. "Did you say you had just recorded it?" His face went back to a puzzled look, as did Amy's and she said "Yeah, why?" before pursing her lips. She worried Sheldon had caught on to her. "Oh, nothing I just hadn't heard the T.V go on at all so I wondered how you could have recorded a program with it off." To that comment, Amy replied with "I had the T.V on mute." A little more defensive than she would have liked and she saw Sheldon purse his lips once more. "I see." He said. Amy sucked in a breath, worried that he would catch on and accuse her of lying. Thankfully, he then decided to change the subject.

"Well if that's what makes you happy, then I'm all for it." He told her, his voice slightly shaky. He shuffled a little bit in his spot on the couch and then Amy noticed the papers sticking slightly out of his bag. She turned to him and quietly asked him "What's in the bag?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Raj returned to the bathroom several minutes later holding a glass of water in one hand, his other hand clasped shut; his fly down. He gave Penny a timid smile and moved to hand her the glass and pills in his clasped hand. "Thank you." Penny replied curtly. Once the pills and glass were handed off, Penny downed them in one quick motion. Raj lingered for a moment, casting nervous glances towards Howard and Leonard before he fixed his gaze on the floor and moved to walk out of the bathroom.

On his way out, he brushed past Howard and he felt his friend watch him leave. Howard felt Bernadette's eyes bore holes in his back and he shuffled uncomfortably, his eyes never leaving Raj's back. A thick, heavy tension between Howard and Bernadette hung in the air and seemed to make everyone squirm with discomfort. Several moments past and Bernadette grew even more anxious, waiting for a reply from her boyfriend.

"Howard!" Bernadette's shrill, angry voice filled the small, cramped room. She only raised her voice to get his attention. "Yes Ma… Ma Bernadette!" Howard nervously replied. He had almost called his girlfriend his mom, but he hastily fixed his reply but she seemed no less angry with him. Her tone softened when she noticed that Howard was actually paying attention to her. "Howie, what's going on?" Howard opened his mouth, ready to shoot a reply back to her, hoping that it would avoid her question, but Leonard spoke up before he got a chance.

"Bernadette, I think I may know the answer to that." He stated, his tone unusually condescending. Pursing his lips, he turned towards Howard and crossed his arms. Bernadette gave him a puzzled look which he saw out of the corner of his eye and he continued. "I think that Howard is jealous that I helped you when you were drunk and he didn't. He's probably a little insecure that a girl like you would leave him since he doesn't know how to take care of someone who's drunk," Leonard gave Howard a tiny smirk and made his way back over to Penny. Bernadette's face seemed to radiate her confusion and disappointment as she turned to Howard. "Howie, is this true?" She asked in her usual innocent voice. Howard showed obvious signs that he was trying to steer all the unnecessary attention away from him but in the end he sighed and grabbed her hands in his.

"Yes, Bernie, it is. But what was I suppose to do?" He let out a little nervous half- laugh towards the end of his sentence but Bernadette was not amused at all. "Look, Howard." She said in a firm voice, clearly displaying her anger. "Leonard doesn't deserve you being mad at him. He was only trying to help." Her voice softened a little towards the end of her sentence but her voice never lost any of its firmness.

Upon hearing his name, Leonard felt extremely self- conscious. He looked towards Penny who was clearly focused on the drama happening right in front of them. He drew in a sharp breath and chose to speak up. "Uhm, guys." He said. His words fell on deaf ears as Howard and Bernadette continued to argue. "I don't care; it's not fair to him!" Bernadette continued to defend her case. "Hello? I'm standing right here you know." Leonard said, again being ignored. "What? So what are you saying?" Howard asked in a condescending tone that was dripping with nervousness. "Enough!" Penny yelled. She had heard Leonard's struggle and decided to help the situation before it went out of control.

Penny shot Bernadette a look of irritation to which she complied with, grabbing Howard's ear and dragging him out of the bathroom and out of the apartment, all the while Howard was grumbling under his breath. Glancing out into the living room, Penny found that Raj had gone as well. Turning slightly, she shouted over her shoulder "Thanks Leonard! I'm going to change then go home." There was a slight muffling noise from inside the bathroom and Leonard emerged a moment later.

"Oh, okay. B-by Penny." he knew they were taking things slow, and he wasn't really sure if they were dating or not, but he just wanted to hold her close to him and kiss her again. As if Penny read his mind, she leaned over and planted a sweet, gentle kiss on his cheek, giving him a grin after and walking away. Leonard's cheek tingled and he raised a hand to it, gently grazing his finger tips over it. With pleasant thoughts full of Penny, he walked to his room to go to bed, and failed to notice a very nervous Sheldon come into the apartment after him.

Fast forward to about 2:30 A.M. and a very restless Sheldon stood in the kitchen, a glass of milk in his hand. He made his way over to the microwave and set the glass in it. When his back was turned, Leonard came out of his room, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He had woken up from an amazing dream about Penny because of the stupid microwave. As he was about to ask Sheldon what he was doing, the microwave sent a beeping noise through the air, and Leonard backed away out of sight in the shadows, but still within ear shot of Sheldon.

Back in the kitchen, just as Sheldon had drank half of his warm milk, the phone rang. Leonard shuffled in his spot near the wall, unsure of whether to answer the phone or not. Before he could make a decision, Sheldon dashed for the phone, his milk still in his hand. He picked up shortly after the first ring and the moment he answered, he looked like a little kid before taking a huge exam. (Totally nervous)

Leonard listened intently to Sheldon's progressing conversation on the phone. He always claimed to have Vulcan hearing from being beaten up so much, but he doesn't realize that he wasn't the only one and Leonard had pretty well hearing as well. He moved closer to the entry way, still hidden in the shadows and pressed his ear up to the wall. At first all Leonard could decipher from the conversation was a bunch of mumbling but then Sheldon's voice became slightly steadier.

"Wait, I don't understand." He stated. There was a short pause and Leonard grew very curious. "Why would you want to do that?" Sheldon's voice seemed to grow 8 octaves and it cracked at the end of his sentence. Leonard could hear a female's voice on the other end attempting to ease Sheldon's nerves, but he couldn't tell for sure. "It appears that we have reached an impasse then." Sheldon stated in his usual emotionless voice. Leonard moved his head out and saw that Sheldon was pacing while holding the phone to his ear. "Alright, proceed." Sheldon said after a moment's silence.

"I… I… Why?" Sheldon cried. "What's wrong with it?!" He almost sounded desperate. '_What's wrong with what?' _Leonard thought. "Amy!" Sheldon cried again, this time in a more accusing tone. Leonard could hear laughing from the other person and Sheldon seemed to calm down a tiny bit. For a moment Leonard thought that he saw Sheldon crack a tiny smile as well. "Amy." Sheldon repeated, now in a voice that reflected how tired he was. "It's almost 3 A.M. and unless this is a life or death issue, you could be on your way to a strike." Leonard rolled his eyes; typical Sheldon behavior. A pause, then a mumbled "You're right." came out of his mouth.

"Good night Amy Farrah Fowler. We will continue this conversation on Tuesday." A short silence hung in the air and then Sheldon hung up the phone and moved to go put it away. Leonard ran a hand through his hair and made himself yawn to make it appear as if he had been sleeping before he walked out to join Sheldon in the living room. When Sheldon saw Leonard, is eyes bulged and he looked like a deer in head lights.

"You okay, Buddy?" He asked. Sheldon's expression changed to display how tired he was. "Yes Leonard, I am fine." He stated his tone slightly shaky. "Are you sure?" Leonard continued to pry. "Uhm, yes." Sheldon replied. "What are you doing up this late?" Leonard asked, his tone seeming to drip with curiosity. "I was going to the bathroom." Sheldon hastily answered, whilst avoiding eye contact with Leonard. He knew right when he said it that it wasn't a very good lie because he didn't think it though and he began to panic slightly. Leonard could see Sheldon's eye twitch and he attempted to make Sheldon crack. "In the kitchen?" he asked, masking his tone of curiosity with one of confusion.

"Uhm, yes." He replied. Leonard saw his eye twitch some more, but he hastily added "Leonard, if this conversation is done, I'd like to go back to sleep now." Actually, he hadn't slept at all and he probably wasn't going to but he needed the quiet that his room provided. He was also getting very tired of Leonard's questioning. Leonard eyed him curiously but let him pass before going into the bathroom to grab some I.B. Profen for his headache that was starting. He convinced himself that he was dreaming of Sheldon because he was to tired to think about it and he swallowed his pills with water he got out of the bathroom sink. He then returned to his room to continue his deep slumber.

The next morning was a Monday morning and Sheldon got out of bed feeling more nervous than before. He hadn't even slept now and he was getting up 20 minutes before he was scheduled to. He sure hoped that Tuesday went well. Groaning from lack of sleep, Sheldon slumped into his robe and slipped his slippers on. Then he walked to the bathroom and started his usual shower routine, just 20 minutes early. Shortly after he had gotten in the shower, Leonard came out of his room and looked surprisingly at the closed bathroom door. It was his scheduled time after all.

As surprising as it was to him, he shrugged and moved to the kitchen to prepare coffee for himself. 10 minutes and 2 cups of coffee later, Leonard heard a shuffling sound come from the bathroom and turned to find Sheldon stepping out of the bathroom, hair wet and slightly askew. "Aren't you gunna brush your hair, Buddy?" he asked. Sheldon mumbled something and made his way back into the bathroom. Leonard stifled a yawn and moved about in the kitchen, pulling a couple of packets of oatmeal out of the cupboard. Following that, he got out a pot and a bowl and left it all on the counter for Sheldon. He seemed like a nervous wreck and Leonard didn't want to be the one who made him explode.

"I'm going to Penny's to use her milk!" Leonard called over his shoulder. Sheldon came out of the bathroom then, hair fixed and nodded towards Leonard while moving into the kitchen to prepare his meal. Upon seeing the oatmeal and things laid on the counter, he realized that food right now sounded very repulsive to his nervous stomach. Sighing, he put the items away and moved into the living room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" She shouted in his face. "I-I, I just wanted milk." He stuttered. "But I can see you're busy so I'll just go." He stated. Penny raised her hand and massaged her temple while sighing. "Leonard." She said. "Don't go. As mad as I am at you right now for waking me up, I miss you." She moved and embraced him tightly. He returned the hug and rested his chin on her shoulder, smelling her hair. His hands were placed on her hips and he relished the feel of her curves in his hands. He had her hands wrapped around his neck and her head rested in the crook of his neck. They stayed in that position for at least 5 Mississippi's before Penny pulled away, tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Leonard asked. ""Y-you… you're going to leave me… like Kurt d-did… a-and… I… I h-have… a head… ache…" Penny said between sobs. "W-w0why w-would you think that?" Leonard asked her in complete shock. Penny couldn't reply because she was sobbing so hard and she moved t hug him again. After a short while, Penny's sobbing subsided and Leonard pulled away.

Penny looked at him with sad eyes and moved back towards him. "Penny, I have to go to…" Penny cut him off by pressing her lips gently onto his and when she pulled away, he said "Or I could take the day off and spend it with you." Eagerly, Penny nodded and he pulled away. "I'll be right back." He told her and ran across the hall. "Sheldon, I can't bring you to…" he called but then he realized that Sheldon was not there. Looking around, he also realized that he had neglected his meal.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Absolutely not." He replied in a firm tone. Sighing inwardly, Leonard mouthed over to penny "I CAN'T" and she frowned in response. "Okay Sir. Thank you for your time. I will be in shortly." He hung up the phone with his boss and turned to Penny, who had a very tired look on her face. "Okay, look Leonard. You just go take Sheldon to work and I'll be here when you get back. I'm tired anyways." "Are you sure?" Leonard replied. "Yeah yeah." Penny said, motioning with her hands that he should go. "But before I go," he said. "I should probably tell you that Sheldon's gone missing. Bye Penny!" and he ran out the door without looking back. "Maybe the mother ship came back for him" Penny said to no-one in her apartment. Sighing, she decided to deal with it later and go back to sleep.

Leonard had just gotten down the second set of stairs when his phone rang. Forgetting to check the caller I.D, he brought the phone up to his ear after answering it. "Dr. Hofstadter." He stated. He paused a moment once he realized that it was Amy. "Is he going to be okay?" He asked. Another pause and more nodding followed by Leonard asking "So, will I have to worry about bringing him home after work?...Okay, thank you for letting me know. Yep, talk to you later. Bye." Once he hung up the phone, he threw his arms in the air, cheering.

….

"Wait, you're kidding." Raj and Howard said in unison. "I'm not. Why would he skip work to hang out with Amy?" Leonard asked, more to himself than to anyone in particular. "Looks like old Smelly Pooper is finally getting laid." Howard said. Leonard seemed to consider this for a moment. "That would explain why he's been so nervous lately. I don't get it though. He can't even bring himself to kiss her!" Leonard seemed lost in his thoughts when Raj spoke up. "Well, maybe Sheldon's planning on telling Amy that he loves her. I know I'd be pretty nervous about that."

Howard scoffed at his best friend. "He would never say that." "Why not?" Raj inquired. "Maybe he's changed. I mean, it's just words. It's not like he would have to go against any of his beliefs about physical contact or anything." "True." Howard replied. "But what about his constant 'feelings are hippy-dippy' thing?" He seemed to consider it for a moment before he said "Maybe he changed his mind about it."

"Oh please." Howard said. "It's Sheldon we're talking about. He would never do anything like that. I'm not even sure he believes in love." "I don't know Howard." Leonard countered. "He's been really nervous lately." "So, he could be nervous about anything." "Yeah, but I'd be really nervous about saying something like that to my girlfriend if I was that in love with her." "Wait." Howard stopped him. "Sheldon's really that in love with Amy? I mean, I always knew he had feelings for her, but I never thought it was that serious."

Raj was grinning like crazy and Leonard gave him a puzzled look. "What are you grinning about?" Leonard asked him. "It's just nice to think that Sheldon's finally grown up. Maybe now he will stop mocking us for our relationships. Oh how I love dating websites." With that he made brief eye contact with Leonard before shifting his gaze back to his plate of food on the table.

"I don't know Raj." Howard told him in an unsure tone. "I still think he's getting laid." "Get this." Leonard nearly interrupted. "Last night Sheldon was up at 2:30, and from the looks of it, he wasn't sleeping before that." "You're kidding." Howard stated. "No I'm not." Leonard told his friends. "Well, tell us what happened!" Raj insisted. Leonard nodded and began parroting back what happened the night prior.

"Wait, back up." Howard said. "You're that light of a sleeper that the microwave woke you up?" "Yes." Leonard replied exasperatedly. "But that's not the point. The point is, he told me that he was using the bathroom in the kitchen. You know that every time he lies he has to think it through all the way." "Well yeah." Howard said. "But I don't get what the big deal is. It's just a little lie." "Okay, get this." Leonard said. "He was on the phone too." "That's crazy." Howard insisted. "Who would be calling that early in the morning?" Raj decided to ask. "Oh, I don't know, the cable company…. His mother… Amy…" "Wait, back it up." Raj said. "Amy was the one who called?" "Yup." Leonard replied.

"She seemed to be trying to calm him down. Weird thin is, it worked…. At least until he started talking to me." "What kind of voodoo has Amy done and when can she teach me?" Howard said. "I don't know. It's certainly not what you would expect from either of them." "Awe! Raj said, almost cutting Leonard off. Our little Sheldon is growing up!" "Look guys." Leonard told them. "I don't think it's right to go assuming things about Sheldon and Amy." "You're right." Leonard agreed. "Maybe we can talk to Penny and come up with one huge Shamy Assumption that we all agree on." "We are not doing that." Leonard said firmly. "Besides, I wasn't even planning on telling Penny about what happened." "What?" Howard said, clearly surprised. "Why not?" He asked.

"Think about it." Leonard said. "If I were to tell Penny, she would probably tell Amy everything and I don't think she would appreciate it." There was a pause, and then he continued. "Amy will most likely tell Penny something about it and maybe she'll tell us." "Let's hope you're right." Howard mumbled under his breath.

….

"But I don't want to!" Sheldon whined. "Come on Sheldon." Amy stated. "They're going to suspect something if the great Dr. Cooper doesn't show up for at least the last part of the work day. And remember, I'll be there to pick you up at the end of the day." She reminded him. "I guess you're right." Sheldon huffed. "I don't know how much longer I will be able to do this for." He confessed. When Amy looked at him quizzically, he continued. "Last night after you called and calmed me down, I ran into Leonard." "Oh?" Amy said, surprised. "Yes indeed. He started asking me all kinds of questions and in my panic; I had told him I was using the bathroom even though I was in the kitchen." Amy stifled a giggled at his failed lie. She figured everyone would be on to them right about now. "Regardless," She started, "You have to go into work whether you want to or not."

"But Amy!" Sheldon cried. "What if they get suspicious again? I don't have a lie made up that will satisfy them." "Well, I know one thing that would help calm you down before work." She told him, eyebrows slightly raised. "Oh yeah? And what is that? Certainly your chamomile tea failed to do its job. You should check to see if it expired or not." Amy rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's oblivious remark. "Sheldon, my tea is not expired." She stated. "Are you sure?" He questioned further. "Of course I'm sure." She replied. "And that's not what I meant anyways."

Now it was Sheldon's turn to say "Oh?" Amy gave him a little smirk and leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on his lips. It was one of the first kisses that Amy had initiated since he had proposed a shift in their relationship. At first, Sheldon was tense and barely moved. But Amy persisted on, and ever so slightly, he relaxed into her and did a little picking motion with his lips. Amy loved it when he did that and lingered for a moment after she pulled away. Glancing at him now, he still appeared to be tense.

"Sheldon, relax." She said. He didn't answer immediately; instead, he looked beyond her head, mumbling under his breath. "Fascinating." She heard him say. Then, without warning, he turned to her and said "I'll be ready in 20 minutes." And he proceeded to practically dash to the bathroom, almost slamming the door behind him. Inside, Amy could hear him breathing heavily. She found herself wondering what was going on in that brain of his. Shrugging, she moved away from the door and back to the couch. 'Progress' she thought.

….


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"What do you mean he never came into work?" Amy sounded frantic. "I mean, he never came into work." Amy was nodding her head frantically, even though that he couldn't see her. "Yes, I get that. But what do you mean he never came into work?!" By this time, she was getting frustrated and got up to start pacing. "I think the situation speaks for itself, but I mean that there was a surprise inspection of his office today and when they went in, he wasn't in their. Dr. Hofstadter, Dr. Kootherpoli, and Mr. Wolowitz have informed me that they had checked the whole parameter and found him nowhere. Normally I wouldn't be so opposed to have Dr. Cooper not show for work, but it's not like him to not show up, especially without a reason. I've heard many a time when someone tried to convince him to take a day of but he refused, stating that he could not and would not take a day off of work; as it would ' hinder his efforts useless at getting his Nobel Prize'".

Amy sighed, that she could have expected. This though was not like the Sheldon she knew. She had stopped her pacing now and stood on the far left of her living room, almost in her kitchen. She pinched the bridge of her nose and thanked Sheldon's boss for the information and hung up. Within moments she had made her way across the room, gathered her keys and cardigan and walked out the door. As she was halfway down the second flight of stairs, she received an incoming call from her Bestie. "Hey Bestie, now's not-" but she was immediately cut off. "AMES?!"

"Yeah, Bestie?" "WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?!" "Uhm, on a staircase?!" Amy replied, trying to juggle her phone between her ear and her shoulder. "WELL GET YOURSELF OVER HERE!" She shouted. "Uhm, any particular reason why?" Amy asked. "Hm. Let me think. Oh yeah. NOBODY CAN GET SHELDON OUT OF HIS ROOM! HE SKIPPED WORK AND WE NEED YOU!" "Why me?" came Amy's reply. "As if you don't know. If he can't talk to you he's one broken Shelbot." Amy heard Penny sigh on the other end. "Look, just get down here, okay?" It was Amy's turn to sigh now. "Fine Bestie. I was just on my way over anyway. See you soon."

After she hang up, Amy made little attempt to increase her speed going down the stairs. She knew Sheldon would talk to her; he was just too uncomfortable with the topic to share it with their group of friends. With good hopes, Amy got into her car and drove over to 2311 Los Robles.

*Knock knock knock* Sheldon. She paused, then figured he was probably about to jump out of his skin if she didn't continue. *Knock knock knock* Sheldon. Another pause, then *Knock knock knock* Sheldon. Amy heard some shuffling from inside his room and eventually he opened the door. He stood there for a moment and Amy used that time to take in his appearance. He looked… rough. His hair was askew and his eyes were bulging out of his head. OF course, his expression softened and he seemed to visibly calm when he saw her, but his face was awfully flushed and his arm was randomly twitching.

Sheldon painted a small smile on his face before greeting Amy. "Hi." He told her. "Hey Sheldon." Amy said quietly. "Can I come in?" Sheldon gave her a slight nod and she entered his room cautiously. He never allows anybody in his room, and she felt like an intruder. Amy heard some muffled noise coming from the other room and sighed inwardly. Sheldon would never talk to her if he knew that their friend's were likely listening to their conversation. She then turned towards Sheldon and gently grabbed his hand. Sheldon looked at his hand, then back up to Amy, and repeated this action before Amy withdrew her hand and took a step back. "I'm sorry Sheldon." She apologized. "I was only trying to get your attention so I could ask you if I could go back into the living room for a second and retrieve my bag. I'll be right back. Do you want anything?" Sheldon gave her a look of hurt and sadness and she felt guilty for some reason. "What's wrong Sheldon?" "Please, don't leave me." He said quietly, and he moved towards her, engulfing her in one of his special hugs.

Amy lost all breath that she had in her in that one moment. She had no idea what to say to him, but she knew they couldn't talk with their friends listening. After a moment, he pulled away and Amy decided to make very firm eye contact with him. After several seconds of that, he shyly looked away from her.

"Sheldon, I'm pretty sure the others are listening." She whispered. "I didn't want you to talk to me until I knew they were gone." Sheldon slightly nodded and Amy gave him a small smile before grabbing his hand briefly and giving it a slight squeeze. Then, almost as quickly as it happened, she was gone. Sheldon then found himself standing alone in his room.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Amy whispered to her group of friends that she found huddling together by the bathroom. "Uhm, keeping warm. What does it look like we're doing?" Leonard told her. Amy rolled her eyes in response. "Oh please. This behavior I could expect from you Leonard. Even you Howard and Raj." At the mention of his name, Raj suddenly looked frightened and dropped his gaze to the floor. Leonard gave her a quizzical look and she continued. "But from you Bestie?" She finished. Penny's cheeks turned slightly pink and she stood up straighter. "I just want to know what's got Sheldon's underpants in such a twist!"

Amy could just imagine saying 'My underpants are more certainly not in a twist!' and she chuckled lightly to herself, smiling subconsciously. "Amy, WHY ARE YOU SMILING? WHAT ABOUT SHELDON?" "Calm down Penny." Leonard told her. "It's okay." I reassured them both. "Penny, I am trying to talk to him but I could hear you guys out here, I just fear that he won't talk to me when you guys are around." When they all gave Amy a blank look she sighed inwardly and decided to spell it out for them. "I think you guys should leave." "Oh, right." said Leonard. "Alright guys, lets go." Penny left reluctantly, looking grumpy. She only agreed to go under the promise that she would get details from Amy after. Amy wasn't sure how much she would be willing to share, but if it wasn't a lot she would just have to settle for what she was comfortable giving.

Amy made her way over to Sheldon's room once again and knocked gently on it. Almost immediately Sheldon answered and ushered her inside. Once she was inside, she really didn't know where she should be standing, so she made her way over to the foot of the bed and stood awkwardly, waiting for Sheldon to start the conversation. She was surprised when Sheldon then gestured for her to sit on the end of the bed with him. Without question, Amy took her seat at the foot of the bed.

Sheldon shyly looked up at Amy and gave her a small smile again. "Thank you Amy." He told her sincerely. "You're welcome Sheldon. Now, everybody has been telling me that you skipped work today. When I dropped you off this morning I was under the impression that you would be working. How come you didn't go into work?" For the longest time, Sheldon didn't answer, but only stared strait ahead at his wall. He was quiet for so long that Amy feared that maybe Sheldon wouldn't talk to her.

Finally after several moments of hesitation, he then turned to her and looked her right in the eyes. Quietly, he told her "I don't know if I can do this." When she looked back with a blank expression, he shifted his gaze back onto the floor and thought for a moment. "It's just, too many emotions that I don't have time to process. I'm a man of science, feelings are hippie- dippy. I don't have time for this…" Suddenly, reality hit Amy and she felt as if she might be having a panic attack.

"Are you… are you breaking up… with me?" She asked cautiously. Sheldon didn't look up at her, but kept his gaze on the floor and remained quiet. Amy took a few moments to process all of this. This was the man she truly loved, and now he was leaving her. She couldn't understand the situation. "Is this because we're moving to fast for you? Sheldon, you have to remember that I'm just as inexperienced as you at this. If it's going to fast, we can go at a pace that better suits you." She was desperately trying to save their relationship, but all Sheldon did was slowly shake his head.

Amy couldn't believe what she was seeing. She felt tears well up in her eyes and they started to burn. She kept trying to form words to tell him how she really felt, how much he meant to her. She was desperately trying to gather breath to make all her pleads while holding back the tears. As time went on slowly, her chest began to rise and fall at a quicker speed and one lone tear trailed gently down her cheek. She dropped her gaze to the floor and started to shake her head as Sheldon had done moments before. She was focused on not letting emotions over come her that she didn't hear Sheldon shift in his bed slightly.

Amy was contemplating if they were too broken to continue their relationship when another tear escaped her eye. Maybe she had pushed him too hard; maybe she had made him uncomfortable. Maybe it just wasn't repairable. She considered getting up and leaving, but eventually settled on returning her gaze on Sheldon, who had his gaze still on the floor. He must have felt Amy's eyes on his because he raised his head and his eyes grazed over her face and her tear stained cheeks.

Another tear escaped Amy's eyes and she move slightly to break their eye contact but Sheldon stopped her and gently held her face in his hands. Slowly, he shook his head again and leaned into Amy and gently brushed his lips on hers for a second before embracing her in a loose hug. He turned his head so his lips were mere inches from her ear and whispered "Amy, please don't cry."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Sheldon?" Leonard called, after rasping on his door a couple of times. "Are you alright?" There wasn't an answer, so he tried again. "Can I get you anything buddy? Comics, pizza, anything?" There was still only silence and Leonard shifted from his spot outside of Sheldon's bedroom door. "It's worse than I thought." Mary Cooper mumbled under her breath, slightly shaking her head. "Shelly, come out her and give your momma a proper welcome." She demanded in a firm tone. They heard shuffling come from inside Sheldon's room and he opened the door enough to stick his head out.

"Mom?" he asked. "What are you doing here?" Mary looked her son up and down before answering. Boy was he a mess. It looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks and he had bags under his eyes. His back was hunched over slightly and his eyes were red and puffy. It also appeared that his top lip was swollen, along with his face being flush; hair askew. "Well can't a mom visit her little Shelly Bean when she wants to?" All Sheldon did was nod slightly at her and move to close the door. Before he could, Mary put her foot in front of it to block it from closing.

"Now Shelly, Leonard tells me you've been spending a lot of time in your room. Now, why is this?" Sheldon stayed silent and kept his gaze on the floor, wishing this conversation was over with. Mary nervously glanced over at Leonard and he gave her a look of 'I told you'. She sighed inwardly, she never saw her Shelly like this. The problem was, she didn't know why he was like this. Nobody did, because he wouldn't talk. When it became apparent to Mary that her son didn't have any intention of speaking, she considered just leaving it be until the morning. Once again, her eyes fell on Sheldon, who was still looking on the ground. After a moment's hesitation, she decided she would wait.

"Well Shelly, you look pretty tired. I'm letting you off the hook for now, but don't think that this is a free pass to ignore your mother after she spent all her time and money flying over just to see you." Sheldon merely nodded and without another word, he stepped back into his room and closed the door. "Oh, and Shelly," she said through the door, "Where's Amy?" Mary thought she heard Sheldon mumbling in his room but nothing more. She decided if she wanted answers, she was going to have to talk to Leonard.

"Leonard, dear, where's Amy?" she asked him. Leonard's eyes quickly darted from Mary to Sheldon's door and back to her. He moved in a little closer to her and whispered "I don't know. All the sudden it's like Amy was gone from Sheldon's life. I'd assume she's at her apartment. But she wouldn't even tell Penny what happened. All we can do right now is assume things and hope that one of them is right. Maybe you can help?" The last part of his sentence sounded like a plea. Seeing the worried look on Leonard's face, Mary relented, and with a nod she agreed to help her little Shelly and his Amy to sort things out.

Sheldon heard Leonard and Mary's conversation even between his silent sobs. It didn't matter what they tried to do, they weren't going to fix anything. What was done was done and he was trying the best he could to do his part. Without warning, the conversation that he and Amy had had weeks prior popped into his head.

*Flash Back*

It was exactly 3 weeks ago in the Pre-evening that Amy had come over after work to see why he hadn't gone in. He had invited her in without question and even let her sit on his bed. She asked him "Why have you not gone into work and why are you so nervous?" and he had done something that even surprised him- he had confessed his feelings to her. Well, not all of them of course; but only the ones that mattered at that particular moment. What had she done? She had assumed that when he told her that he couldn't 'do this' anymore, he meant that he couldn't date her anymore. She had begun, what he assumed, to have a slight panic attack. He was not in his right mind to help her, he didn't even know how. She asked him "Are you breaking up with me?" and he had been so shocked.

At the time he didn't have enough strength to talk to her so he merely shook his head, to indicate that he wasn't breaking up with her. After a moment, he looked up to see tears streaming down her face. In a split second decision, he had quickly kissed her and timidly hugged her. When she still hadn't calmed down, he told her not to cry. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "Don't be." He whispered back to her. "Look, Sheldon, I think I know what will help us both in this situation." She told him, sniffling. "And what would that be?" He asked her quietly. "If I leave" she stated, but before he could counter argue, she continued. "I leave and no longer call myself your girlfriend and I don't see you at all." So far, he did not like her idea. He frowned at her in response but she continued.

"I let you just figure out how you're going to deal with all your emotions and get your priorities straitened out. I realize you need time for this, and I am wiling to give you all the time in the world." She said the last part quietly, avoiding his gaze. "And when you're ready, you can come back." Sheldon considered her suggestion, still frowning, when she looked up at him. "I promise you that I will wait for you. There's nobody else for me Sheldon." She tried to explain, although the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach didn't seem to be listening to her words. She waited for a moment for him to reply, and when he didn't, she got up and left.

*Present*

The rasping at the door jolted her awake and she sat up, rubbing her head. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was now 4:30 in the afternoon and her nap had gone longer than planned. Getting off the couch and smoothing down her skirt and her hair, she made her way towards the door. She wondered who it could be, she wasn't expecting anybody. Maybe it was Sheldon, finally coming to tell her that he had worked things out and whished for them to get back together. With that thought in mind, Amy put on the cheeriest expression she could. Upon opening the door, her lop-sided grin turned into more of a confused look. It didn't last very long, and within moments she put on her usual blank expression. "Leonard, Mrs. Cooper." Amy stated with a nod. Leonard nervously fiddled with his hands, giving her a small smile. "Now sugar, please. Call me Mary." "Oh, right." Amy said. "Please, do come in." She moved aside for her guests to enter her home. Once they were inside, she closed the door and turned to them. "Would either of you like a beverage? I have water, strawberry quick, yoo-hoo and Mountain dew."

Mary smiled to herself. All those drinks were something that Shelly would have if he were to come over. Those two were like pees in a pod. "I'll take water dear." Mary told her. Amy nodded and turned to Leonard, who shifted uncomfortably. "Water's fine." He told her nervously. For the third time in the last hour, Amy nodded and proceeded to go into her kitchen to fill the glasses with water. Once the task was complete, Amy walked back out into the living room, a glass of water in each hand. Mary grabbed hers from Amy and took a small sip from it, as did Leonard. Mary cleared her throat, gathering both Leonard and Amy's attention.

"Now, sugar, I bet you're wondering why we're here." Amy slowly nodded, not quite sure where this conversation was leading. "Well, before I go into my rantin', Leonard wants to tell you somethin'." "Right." Leonard added with a shaky voice. He took in a slow breath and his words came out hastily. "You have to come fix Sheldon." Amy's eyes practically bulged out of her head and she sputtered the little water that was in her mouth all over. "I'm sorry." She stated; confusion evident in her voice. "I must have heard you wrong." "No, sugar, you didn't hear anything wrong. Shelly's in one of his stages that even his Momma can't seem to figure out. If you really can't come to help, then can you be ever so kind as to tell us what's gotten into my little Shelly bean?" Her voice sounded desperate as she pleaded, but her pleas fell onto deaf ears.

Amy knew exactly why Sheldon would be in such a state, but she didn't know it was that bad that Leonard would consider him 'broken'. Pondering this new information, Amy was not sure what to do. She had told Sheldon she wouldn't interfere with how he was going to sort out things. She even volunteered to give him as much space as he needed. In truth, she hadn't waited for a response to see if he was okay with it, but the concern never crossed her mind before. The thought of him in such a state over her was hard to believe. It was so hard to believe that Amy needed some sort of clarification.

"Leonard, what do you mean?" she asked him, truly curious as to what he meant. "Let me put it like this, Sheldon has not done any group activities with us at all, no Halo Night, no Pizza Night, no Paint balling, no Comic Book Night, no New Comic Book Night. He hasn't even done laundry on Laundry Night. I haven't seen him come out to eat any food for three whole weeks. He hasn't come into work, he didn't even complain when I watched Babylon 5 the other night. It's been three weeks Amy. It's not getting batter."

Amy didn't know what to make of any of the news she just received. The fact that Sheldon had quit doing everything that was important to him over her made her feel very guilty. "Really?" she asked him in disbelief. "Yes" Leonard said "and, to top it all off, he doesn't talk to anybody, Ever." All this information seemed to slap Amy right in the face. Suddenly, she felt light headed. Setting her drink on the coffee table, she sat down on the couch and began to process the information. After a moment, she looked up at Mary, who was giving her a sympathetic look.

"Sugar," she said, when she had Amy's attention. "Do you have any idea why my Shelly's been acting this way?" Amy was torn. She hated to lie to Sheldon's mother like that. But she knew that if she told her why, Sheldon would never forgive her. And what's worse, she might get accused of breaking Sheldon's heart on purpose, something that she hoped would never happen.

Putting on her best innocent look, Amy looked at Mary for a moment before settling her eyes onto Leonard next to her. She felt that if she was going to lie, she would feel better about doing it without making eye contact. "Mrs. Cooper, I mean Mary, I have absolutely no idea why Sheldon's been acting like that." Mary could feel her nerves rising again and it showed in her expression. "However," Amy stated. "I do not know because I have not seen Sheldon in close to 3 weeks. He has not been in contact with me and I have not seen him at any of our social gatherings. As for the information about his odd behavior lately, I can tell you that Penny has told me some of those things already, but unless Sheldon would be willing to let me cut open his brain and see what exactly caused him to behave that way." Amy paused for a moment; perhaps she should just stop talking. After all, she didn't want this lie to get too out of hand.

"I see." Mary said. She sighed then. "My little Shelly; I've never seen him like this before." She paused, fighting back tears. "I really thought he was different now, falling for the girl of his dreams. Whether that boy sees it or not he loves you." She said to Amy. Amy nodded in response, thinking of how much she loved him. No matter how much she loved him and he loved her, he would never say it, and she didn't intend to either.

"Amy," Leonard interrupted her thoughts. "Do you think Sheldon's odd behavior is because of that night when he was in his room and you went in there to talk to him?" Amy felt guilty, she knew now that that was probably the reason why, although she would never admit it. She looked at Mary, whose eyes were almost jumping out of her head. "My, my," Mary said, slightly shaking her head. "Shelly let a girl into his room at night? You two weren't sinnin', were you?" Amy sighed inwardly. Why did his mom always think that whenever they were alone together in a bedroom that they had sex? She gave Leonard the death glare for spilling the beans before turning back to Mary.

"Mrs. Cooper, I can assure you that Sheldon and I definitely have not 'sinned' and we are not planning to ever." "Oh, sugar. You can have plenty of time to do that stuff when you two are married." Amy almost choked on the air she was breathing. _Married? _She leaned over and grabbed her own water bottle that had been sitting on the table since she got home and took a long drink. Once satisfied, she cleared her throat. "I guaranteed you that Sheldon has no intentions of marrying me now, or in the future." Once she said it, she realized that her tone sounded a little more cold that she had anticipated, earning her stares of confusion from both Leonard and Mary.

"What do you mean that boy won't want to marry you?" Mary asked. Leonard gave Amy a confused look as well. "All I'm saying is, he, he never… said anything… about that." Amy stuttered out. She was starting to get nervous about this whole lying thing and she could feel herself starting to perspire. "You guys are still dating, right?" Leonard asked her. Amy darted her eyes across the room, trying to figure out a way to avoid the question. This was all they needed to see to figure out that they indeed were not dating any more. "Well, what happened, dear?" Mary asked, her voice displaying her sympathy. Amy shifted uncomfortably in her spot; she had no idea what to say. So, she chose not to say anything and just shrugged.

"Awe," Mary said, while moving closer to Amy on the couch and giving her shoulders a hug. "Well that explains Sheldon's behavior." Leonard commented. "What'd he do that made you break up with him?" he asked her. Again, Amy did not reply; as she did not trust her own words. Instead, she repeated her action of shrugging. "I think you should go talk to him." Mary stated, pulling away from Amy. "I know my boy can be a handful, with his schedule and his pride issues and his no physical contact rule. But baby, I know my Shelly and I also happen to know that he loves you dear, very much. Whether he chooses to admit it or not won't change the fact that it's true.

Amy wanted for Mary to stop insisting that Sheldon loves her. She had her suspicions, but she preferred not to get her hopes up anyway. She also wasn't very excited knowing that others were messing with their relationship. In truth, she did want to go talk to Sheldon; she missed him after all. What she had told him that night still remained true. She just didn't know if he would accept seeing her, or even want to. As if Mary could read her thoughts, she said "Dear, please don't think I'm trying to meddle in your relationship. I was just trying to make you see that Shelly loves you, that's all. I'm sure he would not have a problem with you paying a visit." Amy cast a nervous glance Leonard's way and he shrugged. What did they have to loose?

***Next chapter will be up by Wednesday, I promise(: Thank you for all the reviews!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 **

***a/n You guys are lucky that I'm posting this early xD I've had this chapter working in my head since Saturday and I've been writing it and re-writing it since Sunday. Please let me know if it's good, reviews are helpful! Thank you to all those who have reviewed and who have followed/favorited. I love you guys(: Also, as for the different spacing, it's something that I'm trying. Just let me know if you don't like it. This chapter also focus' on more the L/P side of things for all you Lenny lovers c:**

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Amy nervously asked. "Of course it will dear." Mary replied. "If I know my little Shelly at all, he can't stay in his room forever. He has a job you know." "Well, yes I realize that, Mrs. Cooper." Amy replied. To which Mary gave her a glance out of the corner of her eye. "If I may interject here, Mrs. Cooper," Leonard began, but Mary cut him off. "Please, call me Mary." "Okay," Leonard continued. "If I may then interject here, _Mary_, the job your son does doesn't exactly require him to get out of the house. If he really wanted to, he could do it from his room and just email the results back to Dr. Gabel-" but before Leonard could finish his sentence, Mary interrupted again.

"Pish-posh Leonard." She said. This whole time Amy was quiet. "If my little boy has learned anything from growing up, is that it's easy to shut people out. He may be doing that now, but think about it. When have you ever seen Sheldon take the easy way out? He'll realize that soon enough and come out of his little shell. Now, until then, Amy, dear, you may be the only person that he'll legitimately talk too."

Once Mary had finished her rant, Amy's nerves only seemed to grow. _She was the only person that Sheldon would talk to? That put a lot of pressure on her. _Amy took a deep breath and what she said was different than what she planned on saying. "Mrs. Co- I mean, Mary, I will try and do what I can, but I make no guarantees-" but before she could finish, she interrupted _again. _"Remember what I said dear, it will work."

Mary turned in her seat in the front and smiled warmly towards Amy. Amy returned the smile with a little less enthusiasm than she did, but it was a smile nonetheless. She then proceeded to fix her gaze on the car window the rest of the ride to Los Robles. It was silent the rest of the ride, with the occasional question from Mary to Leonard about his relationship with Penny.

"Mrs. Cooper…Mary," he corrected himself. "I don't think there's anything that can be done about Penny and I. I'm pretty sure that when someone dates someone else after breaking up with someone, it means that they are over that person that they broke up with." That sentence was even confusing for Leonard himself, but once Mary had figured out what he meant, she began to counter-argue him.

"Dear, you two are dumber than a bag of rocks." Amy lifted her head up to Mary, truly confused. She paused, and continued. "No offense dears." "None taken" Leonard mumbled. Amy merely nodded her head in response and turned her gaze back to the window. After a moment of silence, Mary's voice could be heard in the car once again. "I've seen the way you two look at each other Leonard, and it's the same way Mee-maw used to look a my dad. It's true, genuine love. You two will make it, whatever it takes." She looked at Leonard for a moment, watching him drive. He pulled up to a red light and glanced her way, only to see her watching him. He cast her a nervous smile, and it was as if she could sense his nervousness. "Now, dear there's no reason to be nervous." Leonard nodded and they continued driving in silence all the way to Los Robles.

There was a rasping at the door, and Leonard wasn't there to answer it. Sheldon grumbled under his breath in frustration, even though nobody could here. He moved back to his bed and sat back down on it, hoping that whoever it was would go away. The knocking persisted, and again, Sheldon grumbled in the silence. Still, he remained put, hoping that whoever it was would go away.

Leonard had a key, but if their plan was going to work, he knew he shouldn't use it because that would just not help the situation. Their original plan was the get Sheldon to answer the door, and for him to see it was Amy, and then slowly back away to leave them alone. Seeing how having Sheldon answer the door didn't seem like a likely scenario, the three of them tried to come up with a different plan.

"Let me have a crack at it." Mary told them. Nodding, Amy and Leonard moved back to let Mary try her plan. She knocked on the door, three times loudly, followed by a short, mini-speech. "Sheldon Lee Cooper. I know you're in there. Now you get out here and answer the door for your mother." She turned and gave a wink to Amy. Amy nervously smiled her nerves in her stomach building.

Sheldon heard his mom from his bed room, not because of his Vulcan hearing, but because his mother's voice was so _loud._ He now knew that it was his mother at the door, and she knew that he was there. Reluctantly, he got out of his bed and made his way to the living room. He took a second to stand there, having not been in there for weeks, and proceeded to walk to the door. Then, with a moment's hesitation, he opened the door. Instead of finding his mom waiting at the door, he was face to face with Amy Farrah Fowler.

"You think that will actually work?" Leonard asked in a whisper. Of course it will work dear." Mary replied. They had taken the time to quickly make their way over to Penny's and hide out there while the Shamy talked. Penny stood in her kitchen, pouring herself a glass of white wine. "Mrs. Cooper, why didn't you tell me you were coming to visit?" she asked. Mary sighed inwardly, deciding not to correct the blonde on her name. "Oh, why sugar. It's because it wasn't even my idea. Leonard called, telling me that Shelly was broken and nobody could fix him." Penny then turned her gaze to Leonard, eyeing him.

In the sweetest voice she could, Penny asked, "Leonard, how come you didn't tell me?" Leonard gulped, he knew that her sweet voice meant any wrong mistake and he'd likely end up injured. "I would have… but… we haven't exactly talked in a while…" Mary gasped. "You guys haven't spent time together or talked in a while? How long is exactly a while?" she had her own suspicions and she knew a way to help get the couple back together.

"At least a month." Penny replied, still eyeing Leonard. "I told you it was a bad idea to hide out in here." Leonard mumbled under his breath. Penny glared at him for the comment, and returned her gaze to Mary. She was looking between Leonard and Penny, trying to hide her grin. "I have an idea." She stated in her sweet, southern accent.

Leonard and Penny both focused their attention on her, and she continued. "I'm in town for about a week. How about tonight I stay at Amy's, giving you two some time to spend together." She saw the nervous glances cast between the two and decided to speak up. "Now, don't you worry about my little Shelly. You two are going to spend some quality time together. You let me take care of him." Her tone was soft but firm and Leonard couldn't argue with her logic. He glanced at Penny, who seemed reluctant to spend an evening with him, and he felt his heart shatter into a million pieces once again. Mary could sense Leonard's discomfort, though she couldn't do much about it. She fixed her gaze on Penny, her eyes pleading for her to go through wit the plan. She seemed to get the message, because after a moment's of hesitation, she agreed.

Rejoicing from her victory, Mary gave them both a warm smile and moved to hug Penny. She put on a fake smile and returned the hug, eyeing Leonard curiously. She then turned and gave Leonard a hug as well, who still seemed very nervous. After exchanging farewells, Mary then left the two alone in Penny's apartment. Before she walked down the stairs, she noticed that Sheldon and Amy were no longer outside the apartment. Perhaps they had gone inside to chat. Not wanting to mess their plan up, Mary decided that she would go to the little coffee shop down the road and wait for their plan to work. She would inform Amy of her whereabouts later in the evening.

Once Mary had gone, the air around them was thick in silence. By now, Penny had downed two glassed of white wine and was pouring herself a third. Leonard walked over to her slowly, almost cautiously. Penny looked up to find his gaze on her. She looked around slightly, avoiding eye contact. "Want some?" She asked nervously. Leonard nodded, but kept his distance. The memory of the night she had broken his heart played in his head and he desperately tried to shake the thought away. When it became apparent that is wasn't leaving, Leonard inwardly sighed, playing the event over in his head.

*Flashback*  
It had happened a couple of weeks after the shower incident. The gang had gotten together on a Friday night, as per Sheldon's schedule, to order pizza. While they were waiting, Leonard had told the guys that he was going to get penny to let her know that they were ordering pizza. "I'll go get Penny while that guy spits on out food." He had told them. They didn't care; they just kept their discussion about the Wolverine and his prostate exam.

Once he had made his way over to Penny's door and knocked, he began to feel nervous. _What if when she answered the door, she was with another guy? Then his attempts of getting back together with her would be considered moot. _Sure enough, Penny did have a guy over. Looking him up and down, Leonard realized that he did not seem anywhere close to their age. "Yes?" The man had asked him. "Oh, um, is Penny here?" Leonard had asked in return. The man eyes him for a moment, before speaking again. "You're Leonard, right?" He said, realization dawning upon him.

"Yeah" Leonard had told him nervously. He had no idea what this guy wanted from him. "Damn, it's finally good to meet you son." The man had told Leonard. He was now truly puzzled. _Was calling someone son now some kind of thing that older men did?_ "I think I'm going to need a little context here." Was what came out of Leonard's mouth, confusion dripping in his voice. The man opened his mouth to explain what was going on to Leonard, but before he could, his daughter popped up beside him. "Oh, hey Leonard" Penny cheerfully greeted him. "I see you've met my dad."

_ Her dad?_ Leonard thought. That explains why he looks so old. _How come she didn't tell me her dad was coming to visit?_ He had the question ready in his mind, but what came out was "Oh, good. Context" Leonard mentally face-palmed himself for being so stupid when Penny's dad interrupted his thoughts. "Come on in son, take a load off." He suggested. Before he could reply, he saw Penny nervously look between the two of them. "Oh, gee, dad. Leonard can't stay. He just dropped by to say hello." She turned a little more towards Leonard to indicate that the next part of what she was going to say was more intended for him. "Thanks for stopping by sweetie, I'll see you later."

Leonard had no time to process this all, because before the door shut, Penny grabbed him and kissed him passionately, followed by a "bye" in her sweet voice. Confused, he stood by the door and watched it close in his face. "That was odd." He told himself. After a moment, Leonard re-composed himself and walked back over to his own apartment, only to find the rest of the guys talking about racism and comic books. "You'll never guess what happened." Leonard told them, having not thought any of that through.

"You went into the hallway, stumbled into an interdimensional portal, which brought you 5,000 years into the future, where you took advantage of the advanced technology to build a time machine, and now you're back to bring us all with you to the year 7010 where we are transported to work at the thinkatorium by telepathically controlled flying dolphins?" Sheldon guessed.

Leonard's mind went blank. For all the things Sheldon had said over the years, this was one of the most random. _A portal in the hallway?_ "No." Leonard replied. "Aw" Sheldon said. He sounded disappointed. Leonard decided he didn't really want anybody to guess so he just came out with it. "Penny kissed me." "Well, who would ever guess that?" Sheldon asked, truly confused. Raj decided to speak up. "What… what kind of kiss?" His voice sounded insecure.

"A big kiss, on the mouth." Leonard replied, his excitement growing in him. "Is it possible that she was going for your cheek and you moved and she accidentally got lip? That happens with me and my mom all the time." Howard informed them. Leonard inwardly shuddered; he could have lived without knowing that. "She introduced me to her father, kissed me, and then shut the door in my face." Leonard recapped for them.

"Maybe she was trying to send you a message." Howard suggested. Leonard considered this, and the more he thought about it, the more he hoped it wasn't true. "You think?" He asked. "Yeah, this man is not my father, I'm being held hostage. So I'm going to do something insane in hopes you'll call 911." Howard told them. Leonard rolled his eyes; he didn't even know why he had thought that his friends would help him. "Penny kissing me is not insane. She used to kiss me all the time." Leonard defended.

Sheldon sensed that this may turn into an argument and he hated arguments so he decided to interrupt. "Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that standard, Penny is coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs." "I'm just saying it felt like it may have meant something." Leonard said, trying to avoid Sheldon's comment.

"Ah, this takes me back. Leonard obsessing about Penny, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love your new stuff, but once in a while it's nice to hear the hits." Howard commented. Raj turned so he was facing Howard. "Ohh, ohh! Do your 'our babies will be smart and beautiful!' that one always makes me laugh." He then proceeded to giggle like a five year old girl. "Why do I bother talking to you people?" Leonard asked, though more to himself. "If it'll make you feel better, we rarely listen." Sheldon said. Leonard rolled his eyes and shifted all his weight to the other foot. He was just so excited about this and his friends seemed to think it didn't mean anything. Maybe it didn't. He was tempted to go and ask her, but he knew she was busy. He had really fallen for her and now this was confusing him.

Penny appeared at the door a few moments later. "Hey, can I talk to you out here for a sec?" she asked Leonard. "Yeah, sure." He told her. Truth be told, he's do anything for her. Before Leonard stepped outside into the hallway, he heard Sheldon say "I'm starting to think we're never going to see that pizza." Once the door was closed, Penny took a deep breath and her words came tumbling out. "So, you're probably wondering what that was all about." In his head, Leonard thought that penny was stating the obvious. Of course he wondered what that was about. She had kissed him, and they weren't dating.

"What, uh, the kissing and everything? Nah, women do that to me all the time." Leonard told her, trying to act cool. He had a feeling that this was going to end in a serious rejection. "Yeah, the thing is," Penny said, ignoring Leonard's comment. "I kinda told my dad that we got back together again." She sucked in a breath and bit her lip gently, hoping that he wouldn't get mad at her. "What, why?" Leonard asked her, truly confused. Penny took a deep breath before continuing her explanation.

"Well, you're the first guy he's ever really approved of, you know? You're a scientist who went to college, and you don't have a neck tattoo or outstanding warrants or, or a baby." Penny said the last part hesitantly, though she didn't know why. "What kind of guys did you use to go out with?" Leonard asked. A picture of Kurt popped into his head from just shortly before this whole incident. "Just guys. Anyway, when I told him we split up, he was heart broken, and he kept bugging me 'how's Leonard? Why can't you get back together with Leonard? I bet Leonard never tipped a cow over on himself.'" Penny said the last part like she truly was annoyed, and that made Leonard upset to think that he annoyed her. "So, to get him off my back, I told him we worked things out." She told him. That was when reality hit him. The kiss, it really didn't mean anything. It was only to deceive her father. And that alone damaged Leonard ego and he stood there, his insides feeling like a deflated balloon, with no hope left.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 **

Walking down the road at nearly 8 on a Saturday evening, Mary had finally come across a little coffee shop, the same one that Sheldon had met Amy in. Smiling at the memory, she walked over to the edge of the road to wait for traffic to die down so she could cross. Nearly 20 minutes later, there were absolutely no cars whatsoever on the road, so Mary crossed. About ¾ of the way across, a motor cycle zoomed past her, almost knocking her over. One side of her wanted to curse at the driver who had almost killed her, but the other more religious side of her praised God that she was still alive. After she composed herself, she completed the task of walking across the street and she entered the little coffee shop.

If you were to walk into the coffee shop, the first thing you would notice was the smell of caramel and chocolate being blended together in a sweet aroma that tickled your nose. Glancing around, you would find that close to a dozen people were sat down at either a booth or a table, all either hunched over steaming cups of coffee or chatting with their company, always smiling and laughing.

Besides the people, you would notice that the walls were the color of cheery wood, a beautiful red-brown that matched all the tables and booths. On the walls hung pictures painted by professional painters, some of the outdoors when it turned fall, others of the ocean and its beauty. That wasn't all; they also had a little section where kids could hang up their own art work. There were pictures of bunnies and monkeys and people playing on play grounds. It was enough to make your heart melt on the spot.

Walking into that coffee shop, that's exactly what happened to Mary; her heart melted. She admired places where they took pride in their costumer's artwork. She had a genuine smile spread across her face as she made her way over to the counter where a young female was working. The female was dressed in a white, button-up top and she had her golden hair curled and pinned back. On her face she wore blue eyeliner that brung out the blue in her eyes. Se truly looked beautiful so when Mary walked up to the counter, she told her. "My, my dear, aren't you beautiful today." She said in her sweet Texan accent. The women looked at her confused for a moment, before she responded with "Sorry, I'm already in a pair-bonded relationship."

"Well my, my don't you sound a lot like my Shelly." Mary told her, not realizing that she didn't know who Shelly was. "In any case, I was just merely complimentin' you. I'm married." The warm smile returned onto Mary's face, to which the women reciprocated. "May I ask mam', who's Shelly?" Mary chuckled to herself. Of course this woman wouldn't know who her Sheldon was. "First, call me Mary." The women nodded in response. "And secondly," Mary continue in her sweet voice. "Shelly's real name is Sheldon. I like to call him Shelly. He's my second son and a true blessing." The women now could figure out that Mary was religious, so she felt a little more comfortable around her.

"He sounds like a lovely man." The women replied. "Please, call me Lina." She told Mary. Mary nodded her consent and again, both women were warmly smiling at each other. "What can I get for you today Mary?" Lina asked. Neither was in a rush since there was no line behind Mary, but there was a reason she was here and Lina had a job to do. "Oh, dear, I'll have a small coffee, 3 sugars, vanilla please." Lina nodded again. "Right away Mary" She said with a small smile. With that, she turned and made her way to the kitchen.

Mary moved away from the counter then and glanced around. Couples and groups filled the tables and chatter filled the pleasant environment. She located a small table near a window in the back right corner and decided to sit there. While she was walking towards it, she noticed a particular couple sitting at a table not far from where she decided to sit. They were giggling and talking about all the sciency stuff that Mary didn't understand. Looking at them, Mary felt a smile creep onto her lips. Her little Shelly finally had that, and she was ever so happy for him.

About 5 minutes past that consisted of her staring out the window taking in the sights when she heard someone walk towards her. She tore her gaze off the window and placed it on the women walking towards her. "Why, hello again Lina" Mary cheerfully greeted. "Hi Mary" Lina said with a small smile. "Here's your order." She then placed the steaming hot coffee in front of Mary and turned to go back to the counter when she was stopped. "Leaving so soon dear?" Mary asked. Lina turned so she was again facing her and gave a slight nod, indicating that she had to get back to work. "Why don't you join me? We can chat for a while." She winked Lina's way and it made her feel very uneasy. Her attitude was something anybody could fall in love with, but the way she behaved around women made her believe that Mary was out to have a relationship with her. "I really can't, I have to get back to work. Just let me know when you need the check." And with that, she turned and headed off to the kitchen. "Suit yourself" Mary muttered underneath her breath.

The next 15 minutes or so passed by uneventfully for Mary, watching tourists come and go from the café, couples come in and out, and eventually Mary got so lost in the sights that she didn't realize that her coffee was cold and still half full, or that Bernadette was coming towards her at an alarmingly fast speed.

"Mary!" Bernadette chirped, putting a fake smile on. "How come Sheldon didn't tell us you were coming?" Mary turned her head to face the blonde and she put a genuine smile on her face. "Why, sugar, I don't know why Shelly didn't tell ya'll 'bout my visit. I'm just happy to be here!" Mary's enthusiasm made Bernadette feel slightly better about her situation.

"Well, how come you're in this café all by yourself? I don't think it's nice to leave your mom in a café all alone while she's visiting you." For the first time in this conversation, Bernadette was generally concerned about someone other than herself. "Oh, sugar, it's quite alright. Sit down and I'll tell you why." Bernadette gave Mary a slight nod and proceeded to sit down in the chair across from her. "See, what happened was, Shelly and Amy had a little, 'fight' if you will." She explained, using hand gestures. "and Leonard had called me to tell me that Shelly was not himself, and he asked me to come visit." "Yeah, Sheldon has been acting weird lately." The blonde agreed. "Anyways, I came here and I've never seen my Shelly so broken over someone before. So Leonard and I decided to go over to Amy's and talk with her about it." Mary paused and took a sip of her coffee. "My, this is cold." She stated. "Would you like me to take it back for you and get it heated up?" Bernadette asked.

"It's quite alright dear. Bless your heart for asking though. Anyhow," Mary continued, swallowing. "We brought Amy over to Shelly's and they were talkin' and stuff and I left." "How come Leonard or Penny didn't come with you?" Bernadette asked. Mary's smile turned into a grin. "'Cuz I got them to spend a romantic evenin' together of course!" Bernadette nodded slowly. "So does that mean they're back together?" "Oh darlin', I don't know. I hope so!" Bernadette chuckled softly; Mary's enthusiasm was almost like a little kids'. "So tell me, Bernadette, why did you come marching in here all upset?" "Upset? How could you tell I was upset?" Mary gave her a look and her mouth formed an 'o' shape. Mary leaned forward, ready to hear her story.

*Flashback*

"What's going on?" Bernadette asked, now for the second time. Raj then came into the bathroom and gave Penny some pills before leaving. Howard continued to ignore her, which made her upset. All she wanted him to do was listen and answer her question. "HOWARD!" She yelled. "Yes, ma… my Bernadette." Howard had replied. Bernadette had rolled her eyes and softened her tone. "Howie, what's going on?" For a second, Howard looked like he was going to say something, but before he could, Leonard cut him off. "Bernadette, I think I may have the answer to that." He told her. After pausing and moving toward Howard with his arms crossed, he continued. "I think Howard is jeleous that I helped you when you were drunk and he didn't." She had stopped listening after that, displaying her confusion and disappointment on her face. When Leonard was done talking, she turned to Howard. "Howie, is this true?" She asked.

"Yes Bernie, it is. But what was I suppose to do?" He asked her. Bernadette was not amused, all she wanted to do was get away from the problem. "Look, Howard." She said in a firm voice, clearly displaying her anger. "Leonard doesn't deserve you being mad at him. He was only trying to help." Her voice softened a little towards the end of her sentence but her voice never lost any of its firmness.

Leonard spoke up at that moment. "Uhm, guys." He said. His words fell on deaf ears as Howard and Bernadette continued to argue. "I don't care; it's not fair to him!" Bernadette continued to defend her case. "Hello? I'm standing right here you know." Leonard said, again being ignored. "What? So what are you saying?" Howard asked in a condescending tone that was dripping with nervousness. "Enough!" Penny yelled.

Penny shot Bernadette a look of irritation to which she complied with, grabbing Howard's ear and dragging him out of the bathroom and out of the apartment, all the while Howard was grumbling under his breath.


	16. Chapter 16

`**Chapter 16**

**a/n I apologize for the wait on this chapter, I have not had a time to type out my thoughts, so I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget. Also, you should no, for no reason related to this, that I WILL NEVER POST ANYTHING about Shenny. Thank you and enjoy this chapter c: **

"Amy, what are you doing here?" Sheldon asked after a few moments of hesitation. Amy eyes him momentarily, then responded with "Your mother and Leonard came and collected me from my home." Leonard nodded knowingly. "Yes, well, I am well aware that Leonard has called my mother." "Yes, and why is that, Sheldon?" Amy asked curiously. Sheldon's eye twitched slightly. "I have no idea." He told her, avoiding eye contact. "Sheldon," Amy said sternly. "Look at me." Sheldon moved his eyes to her face, but didn't look directly into her eyes. "Tell me you have no idea why your mother is here."

Sheldon's eye yet again twitched and he moved to close the door, but before he did, he remembered that leaving a lady outside your door was something his mother would scold him for. Replacing his twitching eye with his normal emotionless expression, he moved aside and held the door open for her. "Please, come in." He said, trying to display some enthusiasm regardless of how irritated he was. "Thank you Sheldon," was all Amy replied before accepting his offer and entering his apartment.

Sheldon looked at Amy and felt relieved. She appeared to have relaxed and she stopped questioning him. "Would you care for a beverage?" "Tepid water please." She told him. He motioned for her to sit on the couch and nodded, moving into the kitchen to retrieve her tepid water. As he grabbed her drink, the memories from a couple of weeks ago flooded his mind. _Would she still be willing to wait for him to start their relationship back up? Of course she would, she's Amy. But what if she didn't? _He began stalling to give himself some time to think. Eventually, he came up with a logical solution to their situation and he calmed down slightly.

Walking out into the living room with her tepid water in his hand, he spotted Amy coming out of the bathroom. "Ah, there you are Amy." Sheldon smiled slightly at her. "Are you okay?" "Yes Sheldon. I am fine, thank you." Amy replied, perhaps too emotionlessly because Sheldon felt a thin tension hang above them. "Are you sure?" Sheldon asked nervously. Amy took her water from him and sighed nervously, sitting on the couch. After a moment of hesitation, Amy spoke up. "Sheldon," she said. "May I ask you something?" Sheldon moved to sit next to her in his spot. "Of course Amy," he answered, looking her in the eye.

"Sheldon," she repeated. "Your mother told me she's never seen you this… 'broken' is the term she used…" She paused before asking "Why?" "I don't follow." Sheldon stated confused. "Sheldon, you know what I'm talking about!" Amy snapped at him. She took a deep breath and continued more calmly. "What is it that you want Sheldon? If you're so 'broken' over this, then why did you agree to do this? And why did you have such a hard time when we were going out?" Amy had never told anybody else that they had 'broken up' and she kind of wished she did, so maybe she could have some advice right about now. When he didn't reply, Amy continued. "I've given you plenty of time and space and I haven't seen you like this since we had our first fall out back when we were only friends." The memory passed by Sheldon's mind and he was reminded of how upset he was without Amy in his life, he just didn't know how to tell her that.

"How do you propose we proceed?" She asked him. She eyes him closely and he took a shaky breath. "Amy, I think I have a solution that might help the both of us." He told her. Her eyes had a curious sparkle to them. Seeing her so generally interested in what he had to say made him begin to worry exactly how much she would be willing to go along with his plan if she liked it. He felt himself begin to perspire and his breath hitched.

Sheldon swallowed and tore his gaze off of Amy, glancing backwards towards the bathroom. "Amy, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom." He told her simply. Then, he rose from the couch and made his way over to the bathroom, leaving a confused Amy behind him. She sat her water on the coffee table in front of her and held her head in her hands, sighing. _I should have waited. _Amy thought over and over.

In the bathroom, Sheldon sat on the edge of his bath tub with the door locked, his head tipped upwards. His breathing was erotic and his face was flushed red; his heart pounding. He couldn't deal with this-not now. Every time he played his idea over in his head his breathing was once again thrown off. He got up from his position and moved to lean against the wall, again throwing his head back and attempting to control his breathing. Within moments Sheldon felt his knees buckle and he slid halfway down the wall, knees bent and head in his hands. His face felt extremely hot, which only made him panic even more. He did not need to be sick right now. Abruptly, he jumped away from the wall and ran the opposite way into the door and hit his head, falling to the ground.

It was some time later that Sheldon's eyes rolled open and he found himself lying on the bathroom floor. He ground and got back onto his feet. Realizing that his clothes were now dirty from the bathroom floor, he made his way out of the bathroom and into his own room, completely oblivious to the raised eyebrow from his guest in his living room.

In his room, Sheldon's clock blinked rapidly, displaying that it was 7:0in the evening. Sheldon sighed, not only was he probably sick, but now his digestive system had to deal with his changed schedule. Slipping on his favorite pair of plaid trousers and his favorite flash tee, he walked back out into the living room, only to find Amy sat on the couch, next to his spot, reading a book from his book shelf. Moving into the kitchen, Sheldon spoke to her over his shoulder in the most controlled and emotionless tone that he could. "Amy," he said. "I am terribly sorry. I realize that in the haste of my bowel issues, I have neglected to feed us both. My apologies. What would you like to eat?" The whole time he spoke to her, his back was to her and he was busy fiddling with stuff in the kitchen. He did not see her intense gaze on him.

_That didn't make any sense. Sheldon's bowels are always the same. Then again, I haven't been around him much in these past couple of weeks; maybe the guys tricked him into trying something new. _Once Amy had logically thought out the situation, she dismissed the thought and continued to gaze at Sheldon. She had only been looking at him a few moments when he turned and locked eyes with her from the kitchen. "Amy," he said softly but sternly. "If you could please detest your obvious need for staring at me, as I am highly uncomfortable, I would send you the fondest regards." Amy unconsciously bit her lip and tore her gaze off of him and on her almost empty glass of tepid water. She swallowed and grabbed the glass, drinking the rest of it. Then she set it back down, to afraid to ask for more. Moments later, Sheldon spoke up again, his back yet again turned away from her.

"Amy," he said, and then he turned to her. She looked him up and down closely and he looked like his usual emotionless self, even though he was sure his nerves might kill him in the long run. "Yes?" Amy responded. "You never answered my question." He stated blankly, his voice devoid of any emotion. Amy let her breath escape that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Which is…?" she asked, completely forgetting that he had asked her a question. "What would you like to eat?" he asked her again, slightly irritated at Amy's lack of eidetic memory.

"You can chose." She told him. Nodding, Sheldon then turned and moved back into the kitchen. Moments later, his voice rang out again, but this time, he was on the phone. "Yes, I would like two orders of tangerine chicken." He stated simply. There was silence for a second, and then he continued. "Yes, I am that guy." Amy raised her head and spared a glance at him, he seemed very distracted. "Thank you." He said and he hung up the phone. Cautiously, he moved to sit next to her on the couch once again. "Tangerine chicken?" Amy asked him. "Is that okay?" Sheldon asked shyly. Amy merely nodded towards him and sat back into the couch. "Amy, is everything alright?" He asked her again. "Sheldon," She said. "I answered your question, you never answered mine."

Sheldon searched his perfect memory for a moment, and he indeed found the moment when she had asked him all those questions. "Amy," he said slowly. "About my solution that I had mentioned earlier," he started. Amy nodded slowly, and he continued. "I believe that I would like to alter the paradigm of our relationship, restoring it back to when we were in the state of Boyfriend and Girlfriend." Amy smiled up at him, and he felt his nerves catch in his throat. "However," he stated. Amy's smile quickly disappeared. "To avoid the pressure and/ or distraction of physical contact, I propose that we restrict our relationship to only electronic communications." Amy's face displayed her puzzlement for several moments and Sheldon thought she wasn't going to say anything at all. Then, abruptly, she reached into her bag, pulled out a document and a pen, signed it, sat it on the coffee table in front of him, and without a word, she got up from the couch and exited the apartment, slamming the door behind her. With nothing but silence left in the air, Sheldon cautiously leaned over and peered at the document. It was Amy's official termination of their relationship.


	17. Chapter 17

** Chapter 17**

**a/n *I wanted to let all my readers know that I rarely use any course language in my fan fiction, mostly because I am highly uncomfortable with that kind of language. I only use it to keep in character and I try to use it as little as possible. Also, I am sorry that this chapter isn't exactly as long as my recent ones have been, but I just thought this would be a good place to stop. I look forward to any more reviews you can give me regarding the chapter and where you think it should go from here! Thank you to all the story followers and favorites, it always makes my day, always. Without further ado, I give you, Chapter 17. Enjoy! **

"Get out!" She hissed through her teeth. "Uh, yeah, sure?" he mumbled. She was glaring at him, boring holes into his back as he left her apartment. He got about 5 steps and he turned around quickly. "But Penny, wait-" but she cut him off, slamming the door in his face. She turned, took a deep breath, and walked over to the kitchen. Contemplating whether to make a drink or not, she dismissed the thought abruptly and walked over to the wall adjacent to her couch. Sighing, she leaned against it and slid down to the floor, head in her hands.

This is exactly how Amy found her 2 minutes later. "Bestie?" she called, tears threatening to fall even more than they already were. All that came in reply was muffled sobs. Sighing, Amy blinked away a stray tear that was about to fall. '_Sheldon can be such an ass.' _She thought.

"Sheldon, you can be such an ass." Leonard told him when he entered their apartment. Despite dealing with his own failed relationship, he held a good amount of sympathy for Amy. He had passed her in the hallway and tears were streaming from her emerald eyes and down her rosy cheeks. He knew then and there that Sheldon was the one who had made her cry, considering she just came back from being with him. Sheldon looked back at Leonard with a blank expression and he groaned. How could Sheldon be so frustrating? "What happened?" he asked.

"What happened?" she asked through her sobs. Amy again tried to fight back a clump of tears begging to fall but instead sobs found their way out of her. Before long, she felt her bestie's arms engulf her in a comforting embrace. Both their sobs filled the room for quite some time before Penny sniffled and nodded. Penny slightly pulled back and rubbed Amy's back gently. Eventually, she calmed down and asked "What happened between you two?"

"What happened between you two?" Leonard asked a distracted Sheldon. A moment later, Leonard brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled in Sheldon's ear. When he got no response, all he could do was blink in shock. "Oh God," Leonard mumbled under his breath. "Oh, God," Leonard repeated at a talking volume. "Oh, God!" was heard again, this time at a shouting level. He ran from the couch and out the door, leaving it open behind him.

"And that's what happened." Amy finished, a single tear trailing down her cheek. "Oh," was all Penny replied. "Would you like something to drink?" she asked her. She had no idea how to make Amy feel better. "Tea would be nice." Amy responded with. After a pause, she spoke again. "But on second thought, why not some alcohol?" "Ames, do you really think that's a good idea?" Penny told her. She didn't want Amy doing anything stupid. Although, she couldn't say anything because she had too contemplated it. Amy gave her a look that meant _just go and get it _and Penny nodded and hugged Amy's shoulders before leaving and promising to return with her wine. She had just made her way out into her kitchen when there was a frantic knocking at the door.

"Leonard?" she questioned when she opened the door to see Leonard practically jumping around. She was still incredibly mad at him, so she pursed her lips and glared at him. "Sheldon…he…he…I…whistling…nothing…" Leonard hastily said, out of breath. He took out his inhaler took a few puffs and replaced it in his pocket, breathing heavily. "Wait," Penny said, joining him out in the hallway and closing her door. "Amy told me what happened. What are you talking about?" Despite her anger towards him right now, she was concerned about Amy so she put her anger aside for the moment. Sheldon…when I came…into the apartment…he was just…just sitting…on the…on the couch…and I…" Penny was tapping her foot impatiently, her arms crossed. "Leonard!" she snapped, her patience dwindling. "Right, sorry." Leonard mumbled. After a moment of trying to catch his breathing, he continued. "I whistled, and he…he didn't do anything." Penny continued to glare at him. Without a word, she turned and walked back into her apartment, slamming the door in his face. "Wait!" Leonard yelled. "What?!" Penny hissed through her door. "It's kind of a big deal!" Leonard yelled back. Penny just let out a shallow breath and rolled her eyes, moving back into her kitchen to get Amy's wine.

"Here you go sweetie." She said I the softest tone that she could. "Thank you," Amy replied, taking a sip. After a moment of silence and looking down at her glass, Amy spoke up. "So bestie, what happened between you and Leonard?" Penny did a double take and pursed her lips. She thought back to what had happened not 2 hours ago.

*Flash Back*

Leonard awkwardly stood by Penny's island. He wasn't sure what to do, Mary had insisted they spend a romantic evening together, but given the situation between them, he didn't feel very comfortable. A thick silence hung in the air, and it seemed to choke all the words out of Leonard. Penny was busily moving about in her kitchen, cleaning. She rarely ever cleaned, but she needed to do something. Eventually Leonard spoke up. "P-Penny," he said. Penny pursed her lips and turned towards him. "Yes?" she asked him, irritated.

"Are, are you okay?" he asked her. Penny put on an extreme fake smile. "Of course Leonard," she said, before turning and rolling her eyes. "Are you sure?" he asked again. "Yes, Leonard," she said slightly hash. "Penny," he said exasperated. She whipped around, furious. "WHAT?!" she screamed. "CAN"T YOU JUST LEAVE IT BE?" she yelled. "What did I do?" Leonard asked, annoyed. "What did _you _do?" Penny said accusingly. "_You _were the one who refused to help me convince my dad we were dating. Instead, you took everything to an incredibly ridiculous level! I DO NOT LOVE YOU AND NOW BECAUSE OF YOU MY DAD HATES ME FOR 'BREAKING UP' WITH YOU! YOU"RE SUCH AN ASS!" Penny yelled. Leonard stumbled back. _She didn't love him. _"Uhm, I-I'm sorry. I'll just- I'll just go…" and he left before she could say anything else.

*Present*

"And, that's what happened," Penny said, sighing. "God, I can be such a bitch sometimes." She mumbled. "I shouldn't have ever told him that I didn't love him. Of course I love him. Why am I so stupid?!" Penny asked, new tears forming trails down her cheeks. Amy gave her a sympathetic nod and downed the rest of her wine. "Bestie, what exactly do you want?" Amy asked. "I honestly don't know," she replied.

"Leonard, what exactly do you want?" Sheldon asked, now very irritated from his room mate's constant questioning. "I honestly don't know." Leonard replied. "Maybe I was just hoping to get an answer for why you were such an ass to Amy earlier." He mumbled. "You think I was being one of those?" Sheldon asked, uncomfortable with the language Leonard used. He nodded, giving him an obvious look. "Judging by the yelling I heard when you were over at Penny's earlier, despite my company with…Amy…I would say you're the one who was being that." Leonard gave him a confused look. He never thought about that since he had been so focused on Sheldon. "Do you really think it was me who was being an ass?" Leonard asked quietly. "It's certainly a possibility." Sheldon replied with. He waited for a moment, but Leonard remained silent. "Leonard," He said eventually. "If this conversation has reached it's conclusion, I'd like to go to bed now." He told him. Without waiting for a reply, he got up from the couch and walked into his room, gently shutting the door behind him.

Leonard slowly shook his head. _Was Sheldon right? Should he go over and talk to her? _Deciding that since Amy was over and they were probably drinking and talking, he would just go to bed. Walking to the bathroom, he passed Sheldon's room, where he couldn't hear anything except the typing of his laptop keyboard.

"I'll get it." Penny told Amy. She just nodded and brought her now empty glass over to the island, sitting down and gazing at it. Upon opening the door, Penny was greeted with a hug from Mary and a glare from Bernadette. "Mary," Penny said, half- heartedly. "Bernadette," she said. "Why so upset?" she asked. Bernadette huffed and pushed her way through the two women and into the kitchen, grabbing the biggest glass she could find from Penny's cabinets. She then proceeded to fill her glass to the top with wine and down in all in one quick, fluent motion. "Hit me," She told Amy. Amy complied, and poured her some more, but this time, only half a glass. Bernadette gave her a stern look in response, but Amy's gaze had moved over to Mary and Penny who were still standing in the doorway.

"Dear, take it easy on the wine." She told Bernadette. She too received a stern look. "Amy, sugar. How'd it go with my little Shelly? And Penny, where's Leonard?" She asked, turning towards Penny. "Uhm, about that…" Each of the girls said in unison. "Oh dear Lord," Mary said, sighing. "Amy?" she asked. "Well," Amy started, still staring at her own empty glass. "I kinda… broke up with your son." She said the last part extremely quiet. "Well, you kinda what sugar?" Mary asked, intrigued. "I kinda… broke up with your son." Amy repeated her voice only slightly more audible. Mary looked devastated.

"I'm sorry." Amy apologized quietly, still looking down. "Oh, sugar. Don't be. I admire you for how patent you've been with Sheldon and I wouldn't blame you for breaking up with the boy. If it came to that, I'm sure you had every reason to." Hearing Mary's reasoning, Amy began to wonder if the reason why she had broken up with Sheldon in the first place was valid. She could feel her face becoming flushed and lowered her gaze even more, if that was possible. Mary then turned to Penny.

"How about you dear?" she asked, all her attention focused on her. Bernadette even glanced her way and she took a deep breath. "Look, I flipped out on him and he left." She told them simply. "What exactly did you say?" Bernadette asked, slightly calmer now. "I kinda told him… that I didn't love him…" she said the last part barely above a whisper. "Well, you kinda what sugar?" Mary asked. "I kinda… told him that I didn't love him…" Penny repeated, slightly louder. "And?" Mary asked. "You can't help how you feel dear." She told her. "But see," Penny argued. "I do love him…" Mary gave her a puzzled look. "Then why on earth would you tell him that you didn't love him?" She asked. "I honestly don't know."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 **

***a/n I made this little snippet of a next chapter to hold you guys over because I don't think I'll be able to update until at least Monday. Enjoy! Please feel free to tell me what you think of it(: I love you guys!**

"Amy, darling, you never actually told us why you broke up with Shelly." Mary questioned later in the night. The four girls had just gotten done playing travel twister (Mary sat out and watched, while cleaning for Penny). "Hm. I guess I didn't." Amy replied. In truth, all the girls knew that they had broken up, but she chose to keep the information as to why to herself. Now was as good as any time to tell them she supposed. Taking a deep breath, her words came out rushed. "We've technically been broken up for a lot longer. He originally was uncomfortable with the thought of the physical part of being in a relationship so I told him I'd give him his space and I wouldn't call myself his girlfriend that way he could focus more. A few weeks later-" "Weeks?" Penny interrupted. "Yes Penny, weeks." When she received a shocked expression from her, she decided to continue, but she got interrupted again. "Amy, how come you didn't tell anybody?" she questioned. Amy gulped; this was going to be a long night.

"Because, Bestie," she replied. "Some things you just don't share with others." she said quietly. "Well, yeah, but-" Mary cut her off "Now sugar, let little Amy here finish her story." Penny pursed her lips and turned her attention back towards Amy. Amy took in another shaky breath and continued. "Well, after that I came back and talked to him. He had been surprised to see me, then he proceeded to pass out on his bathroom floor and neglect both of our needs to eat." she paused, remincing in the memory. "And afterward he told me that he indeed wanted me to be his girlfriend but we could only talk through electronic communications. I love him, but some things I will not take." Bernadette gave Amy a sympathetic nod and Mary said "God bless your little heart for sticking with my Shelly for as long as you did." Amy's gaze fell on her bestie as she spoke. "Wow, I knew Sheldon could be an ass but I didn't think he could be that much of one." she shook her head slowly. "Well, what are you going to do now, Amy?" Bernadette asked.

To be honest, Amy had not thought that far. She had no idea what she was going to do. "Well, Bernie, I don't really know." she replied with. Penny pursed her lips again and slowly shook her head. "Amy," she said. "Do you know why I was with Leonard?" she asked quietly. "Because you two are in love." Mary replied. Bernadette gave her a look and she pursed her lips as well. "No," Penny said in an almost whisper. "Nobody believed that Sheldon would ever get a girlfriend, ever." she stated. Mary nodded her head sympathetically. Amy didn't follow Penny's logic. For one, she wasn't explaining her original question, and for two, she was stating the obvious. Amy already knew that nobody thought Sheldon would have a girlfriend. It kind of made her feel out of place.

"Anyway, when Howard and Raj found you for Sheldon, I figured 'If Shelly could do it, I could do it too.' You know?" Amy gave her a blank expression and Mary nodded her head slowly. "Look, all I'm trying to say is that if it wouldn't have been for you two, I probably wouldn't have considered being with Leonard again. You two are worth it, I know you are. But that doesn't mean that I don't agree with you that Sheldon was being an ass." Mary cast a sideways glance at Penny, quite uncomfortable with the language she used. "That may be so, Bestie," Amy replied. "But I don't follow your logic. How is getting back together with him going to solve anything?" she asked. "I don't even think he wants to see me anymore..." Amy said the last part quietly, her gaze on the floor. At that very moment Penny's heart shattered into a million pieces. "Ames," she said. "I have an idea." she looked up at her slightly and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the night is still young you know, why don't you go talk to him?" "The night is still young? It's 11 o'clock!" "If you want something bad enough you'll strap on a pair and go talk to him." Amy gave her a look and Penny stifled a chuckle. Amy could be so child like sometimes. "If I may interject here," Mary spoke up. "It may have not been the...nicest...thing for Shelly to do to act that way towards you, but in this case, talking to us about it isn't going to fix anything." Amy nodded knowingly. "But Dear, I'm going to have to disagree with Penny on this one." she told her. Amy gave her a puzzled look and Mary hid her grin. "What do you mean?" Amy asked. "Well, dear. I just think you and Shelly may not be right for each other." Amy pursed her lips. "Mary," she said calmly a moment later. "Your son is the one for me. There's no one else who's as similar to me as him. As much as I don't believe in dating websites, I'm going to have to argue that the website did match us together and with nobody else. That has to mean something, doesn't it?" she asked. Again, Mary stifled a grin.

"Sweetie," Mary said, half chuckling. "Why are you telling us this and not Shelly?" she asked. "Mostly because you guys were the ones who asked. I would tell Sheldon but he wasn't the one who asked." Mary rolled her eyes, oh how she didn't miss this behavior! "Ames," Penny spoke up. "Go talk to him. Tell him everything you just said. He's bound to come back to you." "I would, but given that his mother no longer approves of us, do you think it's the smartest idea?" she asked. "Of course sweetie." Penny replied. "Now go!" and she practically pushed Amy out into the hallway. She shut the door behind her and Amy slightly shook her head. She was quite positive that Sheldon did not want to see her. Then, she got an idea.

If electronic communications is what he wanted, that's what he was going to get. Amy pulled out her phone and began to send Sheldon a text message.

"Sheldon, I apologize for my behavior earlier. I may have acted rashly and I hope that my actions didn't affect you greatly. Also, you should know that as of now your mother does not approve of us. She had told me so, to which I replied that there was nobody as similar to me as you. Penny is forcing me to talk to you, so I figured that this was the best way.

Fondest regards,

Amy Farrah Fowler"

Sighing, Amy clutched her phone in her hand and stood, staring at the door for a moment. Behind her, Penny's door flung open. "Amy!" Penny screeched. "What?" "How come you haven't talked to him yet?!" "Well-" "Amy, the night's not getting any younger!" she cut her off. Then she walked over to Sheldon's door and banged on it repeatedly. "Open up!" she screamed. A groggy Leonard answered the door.

"Penny," he groaned. "Sh! Not now!" she snapped. "Penny," Leonard said louder this time. "Yes Leonard, I get that you're tired and wondering why I'm here." she said impatiently. Behind her, Bernadette, Amy and Mary stood, fiddling with their hands, gazes on one another or on the floor. "Uhm, yeah, just a little bit." he replied, irritated. "Sheldon!" Penny yelled from the doorway. Leonard moved from the door into the kitchen and started preparing coffee for himself. This could be a long night.

Penny waited at the door for several more moments, contemplating if Sheldon would actually show. Back in Sheldon's room, he sat on his bed, ignoring the angry screams of the others from their doorway. He was hunched over his phone, reading it over and over again. Was that really how Amy felt? Was that really how his mother felt? Sheldon then felt nauseated. He got up and started pacing, still reading his phone. Suddenly, Penny ripped his door open, throwing Amy at him and slamming the door behind her, locking it. Amy's eyes were glued on the door, her face mirroring how surprised Sheldon felt.

Suddenly, she turned to him, her eyes wide. "Sheldon..." she breathed. He felt his breath hitch and he took a step backward towards his wall. Amy had a stray strand of her chocolate brown hair hanging in his face and Sheldon wanted to go put it behind her ear, mostly because it bothered him immensely. "Sheldon..." Amy said again, taking a step forward, causing him to take another step back, ramming into the wall. "Why?" she asked him finally. Sheldon unconsciously licked his lips. "Why what?" he asked nervously in response. Amy just shook her head slowly. "Why are you so afraid of me?" "I don't know what you're talking about." Sheldon replied, irritated, his eye twitching slightly. Again, Amy just slowly shook her head.

"Okay." She mumbled, taking several steps back until she was against the opposite wall. Sighing inwardly, she leaned against it and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor. Sheldon gingerly sat on his bed, avoiding her. He was in the middle of a complex physics equation in his head when his attention wavered and his gaze wandered over to her. She had her head in hr lap and she looked exsuasted. "Amy," he said quietly. "The floor is a very dirty place." Amy nodded her head, never looking at him. "Would you like to sit...on my bed...?" he asked her, schooching over so she could sit.

Amy's head jerked up, and her eyebrow shot up. Perhaps she hadn't ruined everything. Or perhaps Sheldon was just being Sheldon and offering her a place to sit. Shrugging to herself, she rose off the floor and walked the few feet over to his bed, gently sitting on it. Next to her, Sheldon shuffled slightly away from her. She glanced at him, the hurt evident in her expression. "Amy," Sheldon said quickly. "I'm sorry, it's just, we've known each other for two years now and here we are already in bed together. Don't you think we're moving a little to fast? I mean, considering we aren't even..." he couldn't even bring himself to finish the last sentence. "Sheldon," Amy said gently. "I know you happen to find this a very...intimate...setting, but we aren't doing anything. It would be like if we were sitting on the couch together." "But we're not sitting on the couch together; we're sitting on my bed together." "Exactly." "Then what's your point?" Amy groaned. "Never mind." she mumbled. Once again the two were wrapped on a thick silence, unspoken words ringing in their ears.

Eventually, Amy's phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, typing her pass code in to read the message she received. Little did she know that Sheldon was looking right over her shoulder. She quickly typed a message and Sheldon read it and quickly looked away, moments before she shifted her gaze to him from her phone. "Who was that?" Sheldon asked, trying to sound casual. "Penny." she replied simply. "Oh." There was nothing but silence again, and this time, Amy could not take the giant elephant in the room. "Sheldon," "Ames, it's open!" Drat. At least she could get out of the room. She stood up and straitened her shirt, turning towards Sheldon. "Thank you for providing me with a comfortable place to sit during my duration of my visit to your room." she gave a slight nod and exited his room, leaving the door open behind her. Staring at her while she was leaving, Sheldon stood frozen. Once she was gone, he walked over to his door and shut it gently, turning back to face his bed. Despite all the germs on it from Amy, Sheldon found his bed comforting. He walked over and sat on it again, his mind blank. But one puzzling thought seeped it's way into his mind; he didn't care that his bed was full of germs from Amy. Instead, he wondered why on earth she wasn't still there, sitting next to him.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**a/n *Sorry for the delay, my apologies! I reaaally hope you like this chapter. I am in love with your guy's reviews, this story means the world to me and honestly I would continue it regardless if nobody wanted to read it. I know where this fanfiction is going already but it seems to like to take on a life of it's own, so please enjoy this chapter(: **

"Sheldon, I'm going to the Comic Book store, are you coming?" Leonard asked Sheldon through the door. His question was answered with silence. "Sheldon?" he asked again. "No!" Sheldon snapped, irritated. Leonard rolled his eyes and moved away from his door, back to Howard and Raj who were standing in the living room. "Lets go." He said. "Are you sure?" Raj asked. "Hey, a night without Sheldon? I'm all in." "Howard," Leonard said. "We've had 4 weeks in a row where everyday we can do stuff without him. Aren't you the least bit concerned for him?" he asked. "Well, yeah," Howard replied. "But, I mean think about it. Ever since we've got out of college our lives have been nothing but Sheldon-filled, lonely nights. Come on, this is our chance to gain years of our life back! Right Raj?" Raj looked like a dear in headlights and Leonard rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he mumbled, and the three left the apartment, closing the door behind them.

Finally, nobody was home. Sheldon listened for a moment, and when he heard nothing, he gently rose from his sitting position on the bed and moved to the door. Instead of opening it,

he put his ear against it, listening. When he again heard nothing, he opened the door slightly and peered out into the hallway. The hallway was empty and silent, so he crept out of his room and into the small, narrow hallway. Upon reaching the living room, he saw that indeed, nobody was home. Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he's been holding, he moved over to his computer desk to his and Leonard's shared laptop. Opening it, he found that it had to be restarted. Sighing, he restarted it and while it was restarting, he moved into the kitchen to make himself some tea. He figured that he might as well drink a hot beverage while nobody was home.

Once the tea was made, he moved over to the couch, careful to not spill it sll over himself or the laptop. Several moments later, the laptop displayed the home page and he unconsciously licked his lips. He then slid his finger across the pad and double clicked the Word Icon. For the next several minutes, he did not stop typing. He never even looked up from his screen. The only thing that made him stop typing was the phone ringing.

Although he stayed glued to his spot, his eyebrow shot up. Who could be calling at this hour? After a moment's debate, the phone beeped and turned to the answering machine. "Sheldon," it said. "We're on our way home." There was mumbling in the background. It said, "You know he's probably not going to care, right?" and then "I know, but it's still polite to call anyway." There was a pause, and then it spoke again. "Look, Sheldon. We're on our way home. Bye." and the room was silent once again. Sheldon hesitated, but then abruptly closed every program he opened (after saving it) and he placed the laptop back in it's original position.

"Sheldon, I'm home." Leonard called to an empty living room. His statement was met with silence once again and he slumped his shoulders, shrugging his bag and jacket off onto the couch. Now that he was faced with an apartment of silence, Leonard began to think about what he should do.

He had only been standing in the living room for a moment before he spotted the laptop on the desk. Walking over to it, he opened it, expecting to have to update it. When it didn't require for it to, Leonard assumed that Sheldon had used the laptop. It loaded rather quickly and he mimicked Sheldon's movement, swiping his finger across the pad and double clicking the Word Icon. Once opened, he had clicked the file and open at the top. Scrolling through the files, Leonard found a file titled "Reaction hypothesis." With a raised eyebrow, Leonard brought the mouse up to it and double clicked it.

"Are you being serious right now?" Penny asked. "No, Penny. I'm making this whole thing up." Leonard replied sarcastically. "Leonard," Penny said sternly. "Yes, Penny. That's really what he wrote. I'm worried about Sheldon." "We're all worried about Sheldon." Howard said. He was sat next to Leonard on Penny's messy couch, with Penny up and pacing and Raj sitting on the floor, in front of Howard, due to stuff cluttered on the other couch cushion.

"Yeah, true. But this time it's different." "How different?" Howard asked. "Different like not just not coming out of his room different, but different like not going into work, not doing anything. I haven't seen Sheldon in weeks and he barely ever talks to me. I never even see him move from his room to use the bathroom." "Maybe he goes when you're gone." Penny suggested. "Maybe. Or maybe he built a bathroom in his room and he's fasting." Raj added. "Whatever," Leonard said. "The point is, no amount of calling Sheldon's mom, or blackmailing him with a dirty sock will get him to come out and be a normal person again."

"Are you sure about that Leonard?" Penny eyes him suspiciously. "What? Do YOU have an idea?" He asked her. Penny scoffed. "Oh please Leonard," she said. "Don't talk to me like I'm stupid. Just because I'm talking to you now does not mean things are all better between us." She was glaring at him now. "Besides, I'm only doing this for Sheldon." Howard raised his eyebrows and wiggled them in her direction. "Ohh. Someone's got the hots for ShelBot. You're going to have to fight Amy on your own." "What?!" Penny asked, completely disgusted. "Never mind." Leonard said fast. "The point is, we need to help Sheldon. What's your idea Penny?"

"Well, I was going to say, how about we get Amy to talk to him? You know, bring him outside his comfort zone a little bit." "Do you really think that's a good idea?" Leonard asked. "He's been pushed too far out of his comfort zone. I think he's nothing more than a broken toy at the moment." "I think he's been like that for years." Howard mumbled. Penny glared at him once again. "Well, do you have a better idea, Leonard?" Penny asked. Leonard thought for a moment, pursing his lips. After a moment, he spoke. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong, you get to call his mother this time and have him be mad at you, not me." Now it was Penny's turn to purse her lips. "Fine."

*Knock knock knock* "Sheldon!" No reply came. Sighing, Amy leaned against the wall that was next to his door. Why had she even come? It wasn't like she was going to benefit from this. He wouldn't even talk to her, or even acknowledge that she was there. "Sheldon, open the freaking door!" Leonard yelled from the bathroom. Amy jumped, startled. Then she started to hear mumbling from inside Sheldon's room, before his voice was heard from inside. "What do you want?" His voice sounded raspy, damaged almost. "Sheldon," Amy said softly, but loud enough for him to hear through the door. "Can I please come in?"

There was silence on his side that Amy was sure he never intended on answering her. Well, he had to come out some time. When he did, she would be waiting for him, right there. So, like the smart person she was, Amy leaned against his door and slid down to the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest. She took a deep breath, and wondered what could be going on in that big brain of his.

Meanwhile, Sheldon stood in the middle of his room, unmoving. He was afraid that if he moved, all the air would be choked out of his lungs and he would be forced to go outside and talk to people. He had to give Leonard some credit; he had never thought in a million years that he would find that document. When and if he ever decided he was going to continue life as usual, he would have a strong room mate talk with Leonard about his privacy, something that Leonard was sure to get at least 4 strikes on.

But alas, life couldn't get lonelier in his room. He really didn't enjoy being in the presence of other germy, irritating people that called him their 'friend.' He could barely tolerate Leonard, who he considered his best friend. He was perfectly comfortable being silent all day, but something felt missing. He couldn't figure out what it was, his mind was too cluttered. He stood in the middle of his room for several more moments before sighing and moving to his bed, laying gently on it and quietly opening a drawer near him. If he was going to be stuck in his room all night, he might as well spend his night doing this.

Amy awoke with a sudden jolt, gasping for breath. She couldn't even fathom the idea that she had fallen asleep, outside of Sheldon's room, on the floor. She had her glasses on, but ever with them on her vision made things look all fuzzy. The darkness seemed to capture the room and surround it, giving it no chance to escape. She looked around and could barely make out where the wall had ended and the room was. Slowly, she pulled herself up onto her feet and walked silently over to the kitchen. In the kitchen, the oven clock displayed 4 tiny blinking green numbers that read 11:45. Amy glanced around and yawned. Finally, her eyes settled on the apartment door and she decided to walk over to it and open it, looking for her cardigan that she couldn't find. Sighing when it wasn't out in the hallway, Amy closed the door, and just froze. What she saw in front of her when she turned was not what she expected at all.

_Finally, she's gone. _Sheldon thought. _I'm really thirsty. _Carefully, Sheldon rose from his bed and placed his Mario gaming system on the foot of his bed, covering it with his blanket. Satisfied that nobody would find it if they broke in, he crept silently over to his door and opened it, walking into the living room. Once he was there, he could only think of one thing. _Drat. _

He wanted to run. He wanted nothing more than to run away from there, back into his room forever. His legs didn't seem to get the message, and there he stood, blankly staring at her. In the darkness of his apartment, Amy's face was concealed away from his sight, the darkness surrounding her. He could barely make out her shimmering green eyes, which were wide open due to shock. Sheldon felt his body tell him to retreat, demanding him to run away from the situation. But somehow, he couldn't find it in himself to leave.

_He's actually out of his room?" _was the first thing that Amy thought. Then, distracting herself from her thoughts, she began to take in the sight of him, of what she could see in the darkened light. He looked… rough. His eyes were half open, almost devoid of any sort of life. But his body was tense, like he was ready to punch her at any moment. She could feel the tension that hung above their heads, begging to be spoken. Neither chose to acknowledge it's presence. Finally, Amy couldn't take it any more.

"Sheldon…" His eyes flung open wider than she ever saw them and she watched him retreat a couple of steps. Whatever he was going to do was obviously important otherwise he surely would have run back into his room by now. "Sheldon, talk to me!" Amy pleaded. He remained silent, and Amy threw her head back, groaning. She stomped over to the light switch and turned it on full blast, temporarily blinding the both of them.

For the first time in weeks, Amy could clearly see Sheldon, and her suspicions from earlier about him looking rough could not even describe what he looked like. He was dressed in a light white tee shirt, and a pair of plaid pajamas. His hair looked as if it hadn't been combed in weeks and his eyes were puffy, cheeks scarlet. Bruises ran up and down his arms and he had a slightly fat lip. Amy gasped quietly, hoping that this was a dream. Right then and there, her heart shattered into a million pieces, all over again. "Sheldon," Amy said again, this time, barely over a whisper. She slowly walked towards him, giving him time to run if he desired. However, he stayed put, looking like a dear caught in head lights.

Amy was now inches from him and she slowly raised her hand to his face, placing it gently on his cheek. He winced at her touch and jerked back, yelping slightly, but staying put. Amy's hand seemed to be frozen there, her hand still tingling from the feel of his skin. "Talk to me," Amy whispered. Sheldon slowly shook his head and Amy lowered her hand, bringing it down by her side. She stood there, staring at him for a moment, his eyes on the ground, when suddenly, he looked back up at her, and they had a firm eye contact that lasted several seconds. Finally, Amy broke the gaze and moved over to the couch, plopping herself down on it and holding her head in her hands, pitying herself.

_Why is she crying? _Sheldon thought. _I'm not good with people who cry. I was going to make myself some tea, seeing how she's upset; I might as well make her some tea too. _Slowly, Sheldon silently moved from where he had been standing to the living room and he began to gather things to prepare their tea. He worked silently, but he could feel Amy's faze on him, stronger than ever. Several minutes later, the sound of water boiling filled the room and Sheldon turned off the stove, removing the tea kettle from it and pouring both of their teas. Carefully, he selected a tea he thought Amy would best enjoy and took both their mugs in his hands. Closing his eyes, he took once last deep breath and reminded himself that he could do this and he wouldn't stoop down to Amy's level and tell her how he felt. He could do this.

"Sheldon," Amy said in awe. "You didn't have to make me tea I'm fine." Sheldon slightly nodded at her and handed his mug to her, taking a seat in his spot, sliding as far close to the edge as he could. Amy held her mug in her hands, gazing down at it, the steam slapping her in the face. Sheldon had already finished half of his tea when Amy decided to speak, setting her own mug on the coffee table in front of them.

"Sheldon," She said gently. He managed to move his gaze to her, holding a brief eye contact with her. Before he knew what he was doing, a small smile formed on his lips. Moments later, Amy spoke. "See?" she said. Sheldon immediately wiped the beginnings of the smile from his face and replaced it with a frown of confusion, furrowing his brow. "Why can't it still be like this?" she asked him. "Where we would spend all of our free time together, where our favorite form of communication was eye contact. Where we could sit in the same room together for hours in silence and never have it be anything less than amazing. Why can't we just do that again?" she asked him. And for the first time in his life, Sheldon didn't have an answer to the question.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**a/n *I am soo sorry for the wait! I've had a lot of things to do, and I had to make sure my Thursday was clear so I could watch the premiere. Just so you know, this story is still in the stages of Season 4, but it's making some progress. Thank you guys so much for the reviews, I hope you guys love this chapter(: **

"Hey, uh, Penny, can I talk to you for a sec?" Leonard asked, fiddling with his hands. "Uhm, now's not a good time for me." Penny had her back to him, fumbling with her keys and attempting to lock her apartment. "Well, can we meet up later because I need to talk to you." Penny sighed quietly, momentarily closing her eyes. "Leonard," she said over her shoulder. "Is this about everything that happened between us these past couple weeks? because I will tell you this only once. You pretending to be my boyfriend in front of my dad meant nothing. NOTHING. Okay?" She asked, exasperated. "I just, I just need… like, some time or something." She turned toward Leonard and pleaded to him with her eyes, begging him to understand. "Oh." He said. "Yeah, sure. Whatever." Penny knew what that meant. She smiled shyly at him and brought a hand up to his cheek, gently stroking it with her thumb. "Thank you for understanding." She said quietly. And then she was gone.

Penny was practically out of breath by the time her car was in sight. Breathing heavily, she sprinted to her car and got in as fast as she could. As she had just started her engine, her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I know, I'm coming as fast as I can." She paused, biting her lip gently. "Look, I already said I'm on my way. Just tell him to wait and I'll be there shortly." She hung up and then she pulled out into traffic, making sure to be careful driving to work.

"WHY CAN"T YOU E A NORMAL PERSON AND WAIT?" Penny asked harshly. Howard looked up at her sheepishly. "I'm sorry." "You should be." Penny replied coldly. Howard rolled his eyes. "Look, Penny. Can you do me a favor?" He asked, almost in a pleading tone. Penny eyes him suspiciously. "It depends," She said. Howard looked slightly less tense as he continued. "Look. I need you to talk to Bernadette for me. She won't talk to me." "Still mad about that fight you guys had?" "Yes," Howard said. "Why do I have to talk to her? If she doesn't want to talk to you, she just doesn't want to." "I know that!" Howard replied, rolling his eyes again. "It's just, I have a plan and if you don't talk to Bernadette for me, all my months of planning it will be worth nothing."

Now Penny was intrigued. "What's your plan?" she asked curiously. That part I can't tell you yet. Just please, help me out and talk to her for me?" Howard might as well have been on his knees, begging. Penny crossed her arms. "Fine, but when you come on Tuesday you better leave me a bigger tip." Howard nodded and she gave him a small smile, patting his arm. "I gotta go, bye!" and with that, she left the parking lot and walked inside the Cheesecake factory to start her shift.

"What did the creepy guy want?" One of her coworkers asked her later that night, right before she was due to her shift at the bar. "Oh, Howard? He just wanted me to talk to Bernadette for him. He says he's got a plan and if I don't talk to her, it won't work." Penny said casually. Her coworker's mouth dropped open. "You don't think…" "What, Carol?" Penny asked, intrigued. "You don't think he's gunna pop the question, do you?" She asked, eyes wide. Penny lightly laughed. "I doubt it. Even if he was one day going to propose he wouldn't do it now, they're right in the middle of a big fight. Right now I don't even think she'd say yes." "But what if he were to ask her?" she asked. "Then he'd be getting himself into a painful rejection." Penny replied, shaking her head slightly.

"Bernadette!" Penny said cheerfully, while cleaning a glass with a rag in the bar. "Hey Penny," Bernadette said softly. "What's up?" Penny asked, not bothered by the fact that two guys on the end of the bar were hitting on her and trying to get drinks. "Oh, not much," Bernadette replied. "I just figured I'd come here and we could have some girl time." She shyly smiled at Penny and she got the memo. "Long Island ice tea kind of night or tequila kind of night?" "Actually, do you have any schnapps?" "Yeah, I have some at my house. My shift gets done in about 15 minutes. You could come back to me and we could hang out some more?" "Sure." Bernadette said enthusiastically. The two shared a moment of silence with Penny cleaning, and then an idea came to her.

"Hey, Bernie," she asked. "Can I talk to you about something?" "Of course Penny." Bernadette replied sweetly. "What is it?" "Well," she began. "Can you do me a favor…?" "Of course, what is it?" "Well, I ran into Howard earlier today right when I came to work…" Bernadette's expression turned sour. "Oh God. What did he do?" "Nothing, nothing." Penny said quickly. "Look, he asked me if I could get you to talk to him. He sounded really desperate and I think you should." Bernadette still looked reluctant. "I don't know…" she said, unsure of herself. "Just talk to him, let him explain himself. I'm sure everything will turn out okay." "But what if it doesn't?" she asked, concern evident in her voice. "It will," Penny replied. "I know it." "Fine." Bernadette reluctantly agreed. A small smile formed on Penny's lips. "Great."

"Penny, where do you get all this alcohol?" a surprised Bernadette asked. "You know, places." She replied. "I feel kinda bad." Bernadette said on a spur of the moment. "Why?" Penny inquired. "Well, because we are having a girl's night and we didn't invite Amy." "Yeah, I guess." "Remember what happened last time we did something and didn't invite Amy?" Both shuddered at the memory. "Okay then, if you want we can go over there and she if she's there." "Yeah, I guess." So both the girls sat their drinks on the counter and walked across the hall, where the paused, hearing Howard and Leonard's voice.

"Do you really think that's such a good idea?" Penny heard Leonard say. Desperately, she pushed her ear up against the door. There was a low mumbling, and then she heard Leonard's voice again. "Really, that's never going to work Howard!" "Why can't you just be happy for me?" This time it was Howard's voice she heard over Leonard's. "Well, I try!" Leonard harshly said back. "Don't listen to him." She heard Raj say. "I think it's a great idea." "I think you're just going to get-" but then the sound of a blender cut off the sound and Penny didn't hear the end of Leonard's sentence. Penny rolled her eyes, typical Sheldon trying to drown out noise of what he thought was fighting. Sighing, Penny stood up.

"So, what'd they say?" she asked. "Uhm, I'm not entirely sure." Penny said. "But I didn't hear Amy in there." "Well, maybe Sheldon knows where she is." "Maybe," So Penny turned to the door and opened it, interrupting the boys' conversation. They all stopped what they were saying and looked up at Penny, as if daring her to come in and interrupt them more often. The sound of the blender abruptly stopped and Penny looked around, feeling self conscious.

"Hey guys," Penny greeted, attempting to hide her nerves. "Hey Penny," Howard said. Raj whispered something into Howard's ear and Howard then said "Raj says hi too." Penny slightly nodded. Leonard remained silent, looking from her to Howard and Raj to Sheldon nervously. For a moment, Sheldon and Leonard held a brief eye contact, as if Sheldon were asking if it was social convention to greet her as well. After a minute of silence, Sheldon said "Hello Penny," all the while, his back to her, fiddling with something in the kitchen. "Hi," Leonard said quietly, avoiding eye contact.

"Sheldon," Penny called. "Yes," Sheldon called back over his shoulder. "Do you know where Amy is?" "I believe she has chosen to stay home tonight, due to a vigorous monkey she has just taken in. She told me, and I quote, "I must take care of him the first few days I have him. He's letting me do a study on him for addiction and the least I can do is let him hang around and watch my cable and buy him packs of useless cigarettes." Penny had no idea what to say to that so she just nodded slowly, slightly relieved that she wouldn't have to bring Amy to her girl's night as she'd most likely be talking about Leonard.

"Why do you ask?" Sheldon wondered out loud. "Oh, no reason," Penny said at the same time as Bernadette said "We're having a girl's night and we just wondered if she'd like to join us." "That's a great idea Bernadette." Sheldon said with a small smile. "I'll go phone Amy and she if she'd like to join." And with that, he left the kitchen and his wet dishes behind that he was washing and moved to his room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, I take that as a sign that things with Sheldon and Amy didn't go terrible that one night?" Penny asked Leonard, right after she gave Bernadette a look of disappointment that didn't go unnoticed by Howard and Raj. "Yeah, I guess." Leonard mumbled. "Leonard, what's wrong?" Penny asked, curious. "I don't want to talk about it." Leonard mumbled, while walking back to his room. While Penny stood, staring after Leonard, Howard was shyly looking at Bernadette. "Hi Bernie," he said quietly. "Hello Howard." Bernadette replied coldly. Howard's smile wiped from his face and a small frown found it's way to his lips. "Bernie," he said, moving closer to her. "I'm sorry…" "You should be." Bernadette replied, perhaps a little too harshly. Howard backed away slightly. "Right," he mumbled, looking at the ground. Penny was still staring ahead, as if waiting for Leonard to come back, so Bernadette pulled Howard aside closer to the door.

"Howard, look, I'm sorry, okay? It's just; don't you trust me at all? I would never hurt you on purpose or Leonard for that matter. It wasn't the situation that made me upset. What made me upset was the fact that you didn't trust me." Her voice was back to normal and she was having no trouble looking Howard in the eyes and telling him the truth. A glimmer of hope shone in Howard's eyes. "I'm sorry Bernie. I should've trusted you, And I do, I do trust you. I've missed you so much. Let's face it; you're the only girl for me, the only girl I'm ever going to find that I don't have to drug to get them to be with me. You're perfect." Bernadette was touched by Howard's words and a small tear was forming in the corner of her eye. Before either could say anything else, Bernadette wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her face in the crook of his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Hey, Bernadette," Penny started, but then she saw the two hugging and unconsciously she grinned, despite the feeling in the pit of her stomach.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**a/n *Hey guys(: Sorry for the wait, I know the last chapter was pretty short… by the way, #fb means Flashback and #p means Present. And if it's just # it's basically like switching scenes or POV's.I was just really lazy and I figured that was a lot of typing, then again, explaining it requires more typing… ah whatever. Please enjoy(: **

** #fb **"Why can't we just have that again?" Amy asked patiently. Sheldon swallowed. He really didn't have an answer for her. He began thinking of possible answers to tell her in his head, but those would most likely result in her being mad at him yet again. He basically had 2 options; don't say anything at all (which would probably upset her) or…admit…there was a question that he…didn't…have an answer too. Sighing, he turned slightly so he was on an angle from Amy.

"I…don't…know…" he practically whispered to her. She was silent for quite some time and he began to think that she had no intention of replying. By this time, it was nearing the later part of the night and Sheldon was exhausted. He waited several more seconds and when Amy was still silent, he opened his mouth to tell her he planned on going to sleep but she spoke first.

"Sheldon," she said, about a fraction of a second before he said "Amy," and they stared at each other, eyes wide and shy smiles.

"You go first." Sheldon told her quietly, secretly relieved that he may have avoided an argument if he would have told he wished to go to bed.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked, surprised. Sheldon nodded gently and Amy's shy smile turned even shyer, if possible.

"Sheldon," she began and he turned his full attention to her, slightly nervous as to what she planned to say.

"Do you think that maybe…we could possibly…" Amy's cheeks turned bright red and she glanced down, avoiding his gaze. Sheldon displayed his confusion on his face in a slight frown.

"What do you mean?" He asked, truly confused but curious nonetheless.

"Maybe…we could…you know…" "Amy," Sheldon said firmly. "Get back together…" Amy finished quietly, her heart pounding. The frown on Sheldon's face deepened.

"Get back together? What on Earth do you mean?" He asked, moving closer to her. She smiled lightly to herself, amused at Sheldon's child-like behavior. "Get back together Sheldon." Amy said, slightly more confident. "I wish to be your girlfriend again." "Oh." Sheldon replied, his frown turning into a strait line. "I see."

Amy's nerves began to build up once again. _Did he not want this? _She couldn't even bring herself to look at him once she asked him, afraid she would get rejected. What followed was silence, a think, heavy silence that seemed to mock Amy, setting her up for rejection. "Amy," Sheldon finally said. She managed to move her gaze up to him, and she decided to study his reaction.

Unfortunately, his expression was emotionless. After a moment, Amy brought her eyes to his and she could have sworn she saw a glimmer of happiness in his eyes. It was gone just as quickly as it had come and Amy was left wondering if she had seen it at all. Their eye contact lasted for what seemed like several minutes before Sheldon broke it and cleared his throat. "Amy," he said was a small smile on his face. Amy glanced curiously at him, a goofy creeping onto her face as well. "Yes," she asked, looking up at him. "I'd be more than happy to."

**#p **As Amy finished writing in her journal about what had happened the previous day, her phone went off. She lightly smiled to herself upon re-reading her last sentence, still re-living the events she had written, before she moved to retrieve her phone. Glancing at her screen, she saw that the text was from Sheldon.

**"Amy, first of all, I'd like to know if you have cleared a day to be able to come over so we can re-write and re-establish the Relationship Agreement? Just let me know when. Also, I'd like to thank you for last night, as it was a very productive night and I have found myself…missing your company…over the time that we were not in contact. Back to a general topic, Penny's over with Bernadette and they are having a girl's night and wondered if you wanted to come. Actually, one of the reasons I was so ecstatic about testing you was because I…" **Amy was up and out of her chair, grabbing her purse; her phone still on the chair, with the end of Sheldon's text, unread and blinking at the ceiling.

**# **"Amy?" Sheldon asked, surprised. He quickly made sure that Penny and Bernadette were distracted and made his way over to her and leaned in, inches away from her ear. "Can we go out in the hallway for a second?" he asked.

"Of course we can Sheldon." Amy whispered back. Sheldon pulled away and flashed her a small smile before turning to Penny and Bernadette who were stood in the kitchen and said to them "Amy and I will be right back, then you three can have your girls' night."

Then he turned, ready to go out the door with Amy when he quickly turned back to them. "And please, refrain from consuming too much alcohol. Thank you." With that, he walked out the door with Amy, closing it behind him. He missed Penny and Bernadette rolling there eyes at him.

"So, do you think they got back together yet?" Bernadette asked. "It sure looks like it." Penny replied. Even Amy thought she looked completely emotionless, Penny could actually tell she was really happy. Sheldon was even happier too. They didn't even have to call his mom this time, he fixed it himself. "I wonder what they're talking about out there." Penny wondered out loud.

"Penny," Bernadette said gently, sipping at her wine. "We shouldn't be assuming things about them. It's just not… fair to them I guess." "Yeah, yeah, I mean you're right. I shouldn't be assuming things. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Amy tells us later." Penny told her.

"You really think she's going to do that?" Bernadette asked curiously. "I mean, sure what she and Sheldon are talking about if what they consider 'intimate'. I just don't see her sharing that kind of stuff with us." "If we get her drunk enough then she might." "Penny, stop that." Bernadette said.

"We're not going to force Amy to tell us anything. If she chooses to tell us, well then that's on her. You know how we always share stuff about our relationships?" she asked. "Well, yeah," Penny replied. "But do we ever talk about the…private…stuff?" she asked. Penny thought for a moment, and then pursed her lips. "Well, I guess not…" she said, slightly unsure of her words.

"Exactly, It's completely up to her what she tell us about it, if she tells us anything." Bernadette's tone was firm and Penny knew she was not going to budge on this. "Fine." Penny muttered under her breath, downing the rest of her wine.

**# **"Amy," he said quietly "What happened?" Amy's expression turned to one of puzzlement and she furrowed her brow, deeply in thought. "What do you mean?" she asked, confusion dripping from her voice,

"Amy, I sent you a text at exactly 5:57 PM, expecting a reply shortly after, as you said all you were doing was watching your monkey. Instead, I received no reply." He looked extremely devastated and Amy's confusion was still quite evident and she said "I'm sorry I didn't reply to your text Sheldon."

Sheldon still looked quite upset. "Amy, I spent 10 minutes writing that text. I poured my feelings out and you ignored it." Hurt was extremely present in his voice and Amy suddenly felt awful. When she didn't reply, Sheldon's eyes grew wide.

"You mean…you didn't read my text?" he asked, now more curious than hurt. "I'm sorry Sheldon." Amy stated sheepishly, looking at the ground, as if she was a kid getting in trouble. Sheldon wasn't sure why but seeing her that upset made his stomach hurt.

"I had read your text and read the part about last night and skimmed over the part about the girl's night. I figured that you didn't want to have everybody in your apartment and I didn't want to keep them waiting so I got ready and hurried over here." In my process of leaving, I must have left my phone at home." Amy stated.

"Well, despite you having to hurry getting ready… I happen to find your appearance today…very pleasing…" Sheldon was blushing like crazy, his expression turning softer.

"Amy," he said gently before she had time to reply to what he was said. "It's okay. It's just, when I texted you and you didn't respond, I assumed the worst." Amy felt terrible to have put Sheldon through that. "The worst?" She asked.

"Sheldon only nodded, his gaze on Amy's arm. "I'm just glad you're okay." he said softly. Then, he moved in closer to her, closing the gap between them. He proceeded to wrap his arms around his tightly –not like his usually loose hugs- and he stood there, unmoving, for a split second, before abruptly pulling away from her and clearing his throat.

"Well, that's enough of that." He said in a cracked voice. He moved around the hallway awkwardly, obviously trying to hide his little member's excitement from her. She never missed anything when it came to Sheldon.

"Shall we?" he asked formally, gesturing to the door. A confused Amy smiled back up to him and nodded gently before moving to the door, in front of him to save him the embarrassment. Within seconds, Amy had wiped the smile off her face and replaced it with her usual emotionless look. She hoped, if anything, she would not attract any unnecessary attention from her Bestie.

"Hey Ames," Penny greeted her from her spot in the kitchen, a half-filled wine glass in her hand. "Hi Bestie," Amy replied in a neutral tone.

"Ooh, Ames, look at you! You're glowing! What did Sheldon do to you?" Penny was only teasing but Bernadette had been firm and she glared at Penny from across the room. Penny was grinning nonetheless and Amy blushed but attempted to hide her face from further teasing. Sheldon had walked strait to the bathroom from the door way, uninterested in the girls' conversation. What he didn't know was that Bernadette had spotted his little member's excitement, but chose not to say anything. She was waiting for the right time-if ever.

"I'm just teasing you." Penny joked, moving to Amy and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "It's quite alright Bestie." Amy replied quietly, wishing she were with Sheldon instead of going for a girls' night. Meanwhile, in the bathroom Sheldon was hunched over, sitting on the toilet with his head in his hands, breathing heavy.

"Dear Lord," He muttered to himself several times. Looking down at himself, he groaned. Earlier in the year, he had dealt with this exact thing and in the many years that he had been alive he never had to deal with this more than twice a year. The year was only ¾ of the way over. One more time and he couldn't say that anymore. Sighing, Sheldon stood up and started the shower, making sure it was really cold before stepping in.

"Really Sheldon?" Raj mumbled from Leonard's room. "You pick now to take a shower?" "Relax Raj," Howard breathed. "The longer he takes, the longer I have to make sure I get this thing right." "Yeah," Leonard added. "And the longer the girls will have to wait. I recommend not going through with this if Bernadette isn't very happy with you." Howard rolled his eyes at him.

"The thought never occurred to me." He muttered. "What's exactly keeping them from going right now?" Raj asked in a curious tone. "I asked Penny through text the other day if she would bring Bernadette here today for a while and stall her." Howard replied, busily shuffling through the many papers laid out in front of him, studying them.

"Is that why Penny made such a big deal about making sure that Amy came with them for their girls' night, just to stall Bernadette?" Leonard asked. "I believe so," Howard replied.

"Why?" Sheldon quietly asked himself. He was getting dressed in the bathroom, his little member finally asleep, when he heard Leonard and Howard's conversation through the wall. He was frustrated, steaming with anger. He had put up with every single one of Howard's disgusting girlfriends, and even Bernadette, why couldn't he put up with Amy?

"Sheldon," Leonard called from the living room. "Yes Leonard?" He answered in his usual expressionless tone. "Are you done?" He asked. "Why should it concern you?" Sheldon retorted, now irritated. "Because we have an announcement and we'd hate for you to miss it."

"What kind of announcement?"

"An important one,"

"I don't buy it."

"Sheldon, just come out here!" Leonard snapped.

"In that case," Sheldon pondered, I'm just brushing my teeth. I will be out afterward." He said dryly. Leonard then moved back to his room, closing the door tightly behind him. "Okay guys," he said. "It's time," and nodding, Howard moved into the living room slowly, Raj following closely behind him. They were only in the living room for a few minutes, talking to the girls, when Sheldon entered.

"Okay Leonard, I'm here. What's the big announcement?" he asked, rather loudly. Bernadette looked completely confused and Howard and Leonard simultaneously glared at him before Leonard said "Don't ask me, ask Howard." All eyes turned to Howard and he felt his breath hitch. Sheldon saw Howard and Raj glance at each other, almost as if to reassure one another, before Howard slightly nodded and shifted his gaze to Bernadette.

"Bernadette Rostenkowski," he said, dropping to one knee. "Will you marry me?" he boldly asked. In the corner stood Raj, silently weeping to himself, wishing that could have been him.

**a/n *Sorry that chapter took a while, I'm also sorry if it's bad, or if there's any grammar errors. I tried. I got somebody else to help edit it too, Thanks Samuelandcandy(: Reviews would be nice and than you to everybody who reads this, you make my life better(: Next chapter should be up by Friday!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**a/n *I apologize for the wait for this chapter. I hope you guys don't hate me too much for the wait. I've had a lot of things to do, but I did manage to clear my schedule Thursday to type this and watch the premiere. Reviews are appreciated, I love you all(: **

"Bernie, I'm so happy for you!" Penny half-heartedly grinned. Bernadette beamed a bright smile at her and she attempted to reciprocate her enthusiasm. Noticing that Penny had nothing more to say, Bernadette seeked Amy from her crowd of friends and started walking towards her, away from penny. Penny let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Looking down at her wine she held, she saw her face reflecting back at her. Her skin was pale, her eyes seemed lifeless. Looking closer, she winced when she saw that her face in general looked slightly fatter. Sighing, she though _'nobody will ever love me.'_

Then, Penny's mouth popped open in surprise. _How come she didn't think of this before? _She looked back down at her reflection and saw a glimmer of hope in her eye. Penny had a small smile on her face as she downed the rest of her wine and turned around.

Scanning the living room, Penny searched her friends carefully. Her eyes never stopped moving for several seconds and eventually, she quietly sighed in frustration, failing at her attempt to find him. After pausing for a moment, Penny looked again, this time looking for Amy.

Amy sat on the couch on the middle cushion looking pretty distressed and annoyed. To her right, Sheldon sat in his usual spot, with a look of discomfort displayed on his face. As she made her way over to them, she heard Sheldon say "But Amy, it's not fair!" Typical whiney Sheldon.

"Sheldon," Amy said. "You had every opportunity in the world to…" but Sheldon's attention was elsewhere .Amy followed his gaze until she was looking at Penny, a nervous expression on her face. Abruptly, Amy jumped off the couch and gave Sheldon a look, the one they had invented to use when fooling their friends into thinking they were still broken up. Sheldon reciprocated the look, his eye twitching slightly.

Penny sent a confused look Sheldon's way before turning to Amy. "Do you know where Leonard is?" she asked.

"No I do not. I don't believe now is the time to be anticipating coitus with him." Amy answered bluntly. Penny cringed and gave her a disgusted look.

"I'm not planning on having sex with him!" Penny stated a bit too loudly, earning her glances from Bernadette, Howard and Raj.

"I just…I just wanted to talk to him, you know?" Penny said.

"Well alright Bestie, whatever you say. Have you checked the bathroom or his bedroom?" Amy inquired.

Penny gave her another disgusted look. "I am not going into the bathroom with him!" the blonde said, earning her more glances this time, even from Sheldon. Amy shrugged her shoulders.

"It was just an idea." She mumbled. Penny sighed again, frustrated, and stormed off down the hallway to Leonard's room.

Sheldon let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Amy," he said gently, temporarily forgetting why he was upset. "How are you going to keep up our charade?"

"Don't worry Sheldon." Amy whispered to him, sitting back down on the couch beside him. "I don't think Penny notices and I highly doubt anybody else really cares." Sheldon scoffed at her.

"On the contrary, Wolowitz and Koothrapoli never let me hear the end of it. They keep trying to tell me it's not socially acceptable to be my age and not 'do the deed' yet." he said, using air quotes. Amy tilted her head, her eyes slightly wide.

"If that's slang, I'm unfamiliar with it." She said.

"As am I." he replied, slightly shaking his head. Raj came up to them then, just as Sheldon started to relax slightly. Amy quickly shuffled away from him, due to their act, and he tensed up once again.

"Do you know where Amy went?" A drunken Raj asked Amy, slurring his words. Amy raised an eyebrow up at him and attempted to stifle a giggle.

"You're looking at her." She replied and Raj held his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he mumbled. "Have you seen Penny?" his cheeks were reddened with embarrassment.

"Well, given that she probably didn't listen to me, there's a good chance that she's about to or already engaging in sexual intercourse with Leonard." Sheldon gave her a disgusted look and Raj took a swig of his beer.

"Still haven't done the deed I see." Raj chuckled at Sheldon. The tall, lanky physicist glared at him and he shifted his attention back to Amy.

"Thank you Amy," he said while blushing.

"You're quite welcome." Amy replied. Raj then turned to leave, but stopped in his tracks and turned back around to face her once again.

"And Amy," he said. "May I just say, you look beautiful tonight." He blushed again and turned away. Amy blushed as well but Sheldon didn't notice, as he was starring daggers to Raj. He was so caught up in his act that he didn't see Amy's curious gaze on him.

#

Leonard's sobs were soft and barely audible. Penny was right outside his door,

ready to knock gently when she heard the muffled noises. Her heart about split into pieces then and there. Quietly, Penny's hand grasped the door knob and she slowly opened the door, peeking inside. She couldn't see much, but what she saw made her frown slightly.

Leonard was lying on his bed on his stomach and his face was buried into his pillow. His shoes had been kicked off and were now scattered on his floor. One sock covered his right foot and his left foot was bare. His hair was askew, his glassed set on the nightstand; upside down.

He wasn't in his usual attire either. Instead of wearing the clothes he was wearing earlier, he was now dressed in a pair of light gray shorts and a baggy white tee-shirt. His hoodie had been thrown aside and was now lying on the floor, bundled up in a little ball.

Penny took a cautious step forward, trying her best to be as quiet as possible. Leonard stopped sobbing immediately and froze as Penny silently cursed to herself. Leonard was still for a moment before he slowly sat up and gently rubbed his eyes with his palms.

As Leonard squinted up at her, Penny took in the sight on his face. His eyes were puffy and his cheeks were stained red.

"Penny?" he asked, reaching for his glasses. She unconsciously bit her lip and shuffled slightly in the spot she was standing in. Once Leonard had his glasses on, he peered at her again, repeating his question, to which Penny replied by slowly nodding. He gently shook his head in response.

"What are you doing here?" he glumly asked. A lot of thoughts popped into Penny's head, but in the end she really didn't have an answer for him.

"I…don't know…" she said quietly, hoping he'd understand. All he did was shake his head some more, replaced his glasses on his dresser and laid back down, burying his head back into his pillow.

"Leonard," Penny said after a moment of silence. She shifted slightly so her weight was on her left foot.

"What?" he grumbled, irritated. Penny was silent for several more moments afterward, contemplating if coming into his room was even a good idea, when Leonard loudly sighed.

"I…still have feelings for you." Penny said hastily without thinking it through. Instantly, she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. _Why had she said that? _

Her nerves were building in her throat with each passing second that he was silent. The silence seemed to choke all the breath out of her. He was silent for so long that Penny felt the urge to make some sort of noise so she started gasping for breath desperately. That's when Leonard sat up, cautiously eyeing her through his blurry vision.

"Are you serious?" was his response and Penny's mouth fell open. She just admitted her feelings towards him and all he could say was "_are you serious?"_ Leonard continued on, ignoring Penny's look of surprise, hurt, and anger.

"I've loved you. I've been in love with you for four years. FOUR YEARS. I have dealt with man after man coming to your apartment, only to have only to have sex with you and never return. NEVER." Penny winced at the memories as he continued.

"Every guy you were with played you for sex. **I** was the one who was always there for you. **I** was the one who went shopping with you for dates with other men instead of going to work. **I **did everything for you, and you can't even tell me you loved me. You have so much commitment issues. True, I'm in love with a girl, but I'm in love with a girl who doesn't love me back."

Penny's mouth was still agape, her eyes wide at his confession. There wasn't a single trace of anger in Leonard's eyes, only sadness.

"Leonard," Penny chocked through her tears. He looked up at her then, he himself on the verge of bursting into tears.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth once more. Before he could reply, she turned and walked out of the room, gently closing his bedroom door behind her.

"How'd everything go Bestie?" Amy asked in a neutral tone. Penny just shook her head slightly, chewing her lip gently; fighting back the tears threatening to fall. Amy looked down at her with a sympathetic frown on her face.

"Do you want to go out to our girls' night now?" the brunette asked. Penny nodded slowly, giving her a small smile. Amy's eyes glistened with excitement before she glanced over to Sheldon. He was giving her a worried look and she immediately felt guilty. Turning back to Penny, Amy sighed.

"Bestie, I will be right back, and then we can go." Penny took a deep breath and glanced over at Sheldon before giving Amy permission to go. Getting up, Amy led Sheldon to his room and closed the door.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Amy questioned. Sheldon looked at her with tired eyes and replied casually.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He shrugged his shoulders, desperately trying to keep his eye from twitching. Amy looked at him curiously, with eyes half closed and a strained facial expression.

"Sheldon," she said. "We tell each other everything. Relationships fail if they don't." Sheldon took on a panicky expression as the words tumbled out of her mouth. "Do you have a problem with me going out tonight?" Amy asked.

Sheldon looked her up and down, debating on telling her the truth. "Can you change?" he asked her quietly. She looked surprised at his question.

"Why?" Sheldon heard her ask in an irritated but curious tone. He held his gaze on the floor however, carefully thinking his words through. He decided on partially telling the truth.

"You're in my favorite outfit and I don't want other drunken men seeing you in it." Sheldon managed to keep his eye from twitching once again, but he still kept his gaze on the floor. After a few moments, Amy spoke again.

_"Other_ drunken men?" she asked, intrigued at his words. Sheldon just scoffed at her.

"You know what I mean Amy." He said, irritated.

"Okay," Amy replied slowly, taking a deep breath. "And why do you not want other drunken men to see me in this outfit?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Sheldon gulped, not ready to tell her the whole truth. He felt hot suddenly, and was sure his face looked flustered. Amy peered at him cautiously and he slowly took a breath, preparing to answer her.

"No reason," he said hastily, his voice strained. Amy held a slight frown on her face, unsure of how to respond.

"Are you sure?" she asked. Sheldon nodded, his eyes still focused on the floor. Amy sighed, exasperated.

"Sheldon, unless you look me in the eye and give me a real reason why, I will leave right now." He froze for several moments, afraid to move. Amy patiently stood by him and waited, a blank expression on her face. Abruptly, Sheldon stood up and faced Amy, gently holding one of her hands for a fraction of a second before letting go.

"Amy," he said softly, looking her strait in the eyes. "I like your outfit, you look fine." Sheldon blushed and Amy's eyes bulged.

"_Fine?_" Amy asked, anger rising in her throat. Alarms then went off in Sheldon's head; somehow he managed to upset her. _Again. _

"JUST FINE?" Amy's voice raised over eight octaves and Sheldon panicked. In his panic mode, he didn't realize she walked away from him and turned his back to her. He only noticed her when she started pacing and ranting.

"Do you not find me attractive at all?" Amy asked, whipping around to face him. Her eyes bulged at what she saw next.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**a/n* I'm sorry for the wait in between chapters. I have been trying to find a way to make my chapters have more explanation/details rather than all this dialogue. Thank you to all who have reviewed and given me suggestions and tips. And for those who view but don't review, thank you too(: I hope you enjoy the chapter! **

"I need a drink." Amy muttered under her breath. Without looking back, she brushed past Sheldon and made her way to the living room, leaving him staring at her back with the gentlest eyes.

"Bestie," Amy called in an angry tone. "Let's go." That was all she said before storming out the door. Penny and Bernadette exchanged a confused glance before Penny shrugged and Bernadette gave her a worried frown.

"Okay, but you should probably drive," Penny said, talking to no one because Amy was already far out of ear shot. "Come one Bernadette," she added impatiently. Bernadette nodded slightly and turned toward Howard, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Bye Howie, I'll be home soon," she was grinning like an excited school girl as her fiancé engulfed her into a tight embrace, kissing the top of her head gently. He then lowered his head, whispering into her ear.

"Did I already mention how beautiful you look tonight?" Bernadette's grin doubled in size and Howard's completely matched hers.

"Thanks Howie," the blonde giggled, reluctantly pulling away from his embrace. Before she could walk away to Penny, he grasped her arm and held her at arm's length, eyeing her seriously.

"Promise me you won't drink too much tonight," he said quietly, a small smile tugging at his lips. She brought her hand to her chest to cross her heart and they both broke out in enthusiastic smiles.

"Alright, Penny," Bernadette said reluctantly while breaking away from Howard's soft gaze. "Let's go." Penny nodded and followed her to the door slowly, her gaze distracted. There was a chorus of good byes from Howard and Raj as Leonard and Sheldon both sat in their rooms, lost in their own thoughts.

Silence hung in the air between the two girls as they made their way down the multiple flights of stairs. A few moments went by, where all they could hear was their feet slapping against the stairs. About halfway down the 2nd flight of stairs, Penny took a deep breath and spoke, shattering the silence between the two with her gentle voice.

"Amy looked pretty pissed." Sometimes she was just as blunt as Amy was. Bernadette didn't mind though. In reply to Penny's statement, Bernadette nodded her head slightly and continues walking, wrapped in her own thoughts. The air around the two in the building was warm, and almost moist. If the two were walking any faster, it may have been hard to catch their breaths. Walking in the building made Bernadette want to shrug her light jacket off her shoulders and carry, but she refrained from doing so due to limited room between her and Penny on the staircase. Their feet continued to slap against the stairs in unison as they continued on.

"Yeah she did." Bernadette said after several moments of silence. Her voice was steady and even, her words gentle. Her eyes were focused ahead but she could feel Penny's gaze on her, so she shifted her gaze onto her friend, only to see her biting her lip nervously and taking in a deep breath.

"I wonder what Sheldon did to piss her off like that."

"Knowing Sheldon, it could be anything."

The silence enveloped the two once again, and neither spoke until they were in the lobby of the building. Penny and Bernadette exchanged nervous glances and Bernadette fidgeted with her hands as Penny's eyes wandered over the room as if she'd never been in there before.

"I think they got back together." Bernadette explained quietly to penny as they exited the building. Penny was scanning the parking lot, her eyes searching for any sign of their lost friend. "But he messed it up again."

No reply escaped Penny's lips, and Bernadette could hear her friend's shallow breaths. The air was crisp and cold, unlike the air in the building. It tickled their throats and turned their cheeks rosy. A shiver was sent up Bernadette's back and she instinctively rubbed her hands together, crossing her arms against her chest for warmth.

Penny was positively bouncing on her toes, swiftly turning to Bernadette and making eye contact with her, a slight grin on her face. Her eyes looked a little livelier as well.

"So, did you think about where we're gunna go tonight?" In reply to Penny's question, Bernadette eyed her skeptically.

"No I didn't." she confessed, looking at the ground. "But I think we should find Amy first, I'm worried about her."

"Right, right," Penny reluctantly agreed, hearing her friend's voice dripping with worry and anxiety. "Where did she go anyway?"

"If I knew, then I wouldn't be asking you, now would I?" Bernadette was getting irritated and Penny gingerly took a step farther from her friend, afraid to upset her further.

When Bernadette felt Penny move away slightly, she glanced at her, to find her with pursed lips, crossing her arms. She immediately felt guilty.

"Sorry," she mumbled under her breath, fiddling with her hands. "I'm just really worried."

"Well, we could call her." Penny suggested, shrugging her shoulders. Bernadette relaxed slightly, silently relieved that they had come up with some fort of plan. Penny reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, typing several buttons before holding the phone away from her and pressing speaker phone. Bernadette edged closer to her and together they peered at the screen, patiently waiting for her to answer.

"Hi Bestie," Amy greeted in her usual tone. Penny disregarded that the Brunette sounded the same as always and went strait to the point.

"Amy, where the Hell are you?" Penny felt her nerves rising and silently hoped her friend was okay. The other line went silent for a moment, and the two blondes held their breaths, waiting for a reply.

"Down the road at the Coffee shop that Sheldon and I met at." Penny and Bernadette quietly exhaled, relieved that their friend was okay.

"Why would you walk all the way over there? What about our girls' night?" Upon listening to Penny's words, Amy shrugged, regardless of the fact that neither of her friend's could see her.

"I don't know," she grumbled, glancing out of the window of the little shop she was in. "Why don't you guys come here and we'll go from here." Her suggestion was half-hearted and she didn't really mind.

"Yeah, sure I guess," Penny's reluctance was evident in her voice, but Amy shrugged it off, sighing quietly. "We'll be there shortly sweetie." The two girls didn't wait for a reply before hanging up and turning to each other.

"Are we going to be there for long?" Bernadette asked innocently. Penny's lips formed a strait line and she shook her head slowly.

"I don't think so," Bernadette returned a small smile at Penny's words. The two stood there for a while, watching the cars pas by before Penny decided to start walking across the parking lot to where the sidewalk was located. Bernadette followed swiftly behind her, curiously asking why they weren't driving.

"Because I just don't feel like driving," Penny said, slowing her pace a little, allowing Bernadette to catch up.

"Well, I picked a good day to where my tennis shoes." Penny had a slight pip in her step and a small frown formed on Bernadette's lips.

"Speak for yourself," she grumbled, looking down at her heels she was wearing. She honestly didn't care, she was just teasing Penny.

Eventually, Penny slowed down enough for Bernadette to walk at the same pace as her. The two walked in a comfortable silence for a while, their eyes ahead. Neither felt the need to speak, both lost in their own thoughts. For a few seconds, their steps were actually in unison and Bernadette assumed that she was the only one who noticed. She shifted her gaze over to Penny to find her mouth slightly open as if she was about to say something. Bernadette kept quiet, silently edging her forward and encouraging her to say something. When Penny shut her mouth and dropped her gaze, Bernadette did the same.

The sun was just setting in the sky by the time the pair arrived at the coffee shop. Orange and pink streaks were mixed in the sky with the fading blue. There were a few thin, wispy clouds draping over their heads. The air was still crisp and it continued to chill their throats.

Walking into the small coffee shop, the aroma of hot chocolate and sugar-filled scones traveled into the girls' noses as the glanced around, their eyes searching for their friend. The shop wasn't busy, a few people filled the tables and booths, talking and laughing quietly with one another. Soothing music played overhead through the speakers, making the building all the more peaceful.

"There's Amy," Penny stated, nodding her head towards the brunette sitting by the window in a booth. Bernadette just exhaled quietly, making her way toward the counter.

"Penny," Bernadette called gently, a moment later. "Do you want anything?" Penny thought for a moment, suddenly remembering how cold she was and how good a warm drink sounded at the moment. She glanced back over at Amy before turning her attention back to Bernadette.

"Hot chocolate," she replied and Bernadette nodded her approval, turning back to the counter. Behind the counter stood a petite red head, watching her with a warm smile.

"Hello," the woman said quietly, her smile never faltering.

"Hi," Bernadette replied, her eyes grazing the women's shirt for her name tag. For some odd reason, she looked extremely familiar. "You look familiar," apparently she liked stating the obvious because the words tumbled out of her mouth before she had time to process them. The red head just grinned at her, stifling a giggle.

"Class of 97?" she asked, her grin turning wider.

"Yeah," Bernadette said, her confusion and curiosity growing. She stood their silently for a moment, processing all the information at once. "Charlie?" she asked.

"The one and only," the red head replied proudly. Bernadette's smile grew slightly and she shifted her weight from her left foot to her right foot.

"What are you doing here?" Bernadette asked curiously. Charlie looked at her with an amused look and the words that next came out of Bernadette's mouth were rushed. "And don't say hunting elephants." Charlie just chuckled in response.

"How are you?" Charlie asked, disregarding the blonde's previous question and shoving a piece of gum into her mouth.

"Good, what about you?"

"Great," she replied with a grin.

"What have you been doing since high school?" Bernadette loved this chance she was getting to reconnect with an old friend.

"After I graduated out of high school, I studied at MIT for a few years but I ended up getting knocked up, sooo…. You know, my career pretty much went down the hill and now I'm here." She shrugged her shoulders casually and locked eyes with Bernadette, who had a sympathetic smile on her face.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Did you really go to MIT?" she asked, astounded. Charlie nodded in response, her green eyes sparkling. "My fiancé went there."

"Wow, you're kidding. Please don't tell me your fiancé is Howard Wolowitz." Charlie looked amused and Bernadette frowned, feeling the need to defend her fiancé,

"Oh," Charlie said, her cheeks slightly blushing. "I suppose he's told you about that double date that we went on?" Bernadette's eyebrows flew up and she leaned in closer to her friend.

"Come again?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, Wolowitz was dating this girl, oh, what was her name, uh, Cindy, that's it. He was dating this girl named Cindy at the time, and I went with this one guy named Joey. Oh, I heard Cindy was back in town today because the reunion is Thursday. Anyway, he couldn't go 2 minutes without making some sleazy joke about sex." She sighed contently, a slight smile on her lips.

Bernadette blinked in confusion. _Reunion? He hadn't mentioned a reunion. And who was this Cindy chick, anyway? _Instead of voicing her concerns, she pushed them into the back of her mind to think about later and gave her friend a nervous smile. Charlie must have noticed that Bernadette hadn't ordered yet because she moved over to the cash register then, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Anyway," she said, smacking her gum around in her mouth. "What can I get ya?" her northern accent was showing in her voice and Bernadette fought the urge to giggle in response. Bernadette glanced up at the menu momentarily, silently reciting Penny's order to herself. When she returned her attention back to Charlie, her body slightly tensed.

"I'll take two hot chocolates," Bernadette stated, looking Charlie in the eye.

"Two hot chocolates," Charlie repeated, punching the order into the cash register. "You must be a thirsty girl," she joked, half-heartedly giggling to herself. Before Bernadette could reply, she turned, took a few steps towards the open kitchen doors and yelled for the two beverages. Bernadette winced at the sound, as it soundly strangely familiar to Howard's mom's voice.

"Thank you," Bernadette said, handing the red head the money she owed. Charlie gingerly took the money from her hands and placed it into the open cash register.

"Any time," she replied with a smile. "Any time," The blonde nodded slowly and flashed her friend one last smile before abandoning the counter, making her way over to Amy and Penny. She didn't make it very far however, before Penny came running up to her.

"What the hell took you so long?" she asked, frustration evident in her voice. "Amy's not talking." Bernadette saw her friend wince and she gave her a sympathetic smile. Looking towards the window area where Amy sat, Bernadette saw Amy leaning her body weight against the wall, staring blankly out the window. She turned her attention back to the blonde in front of her, thinking how she was going to answer her friend's question.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I got caught up talking to a classmate of mine back in 97" Penny nodded knowingly at her friend's words before grabbing Bernadette's wrists.

"Come on," she said, dragging Bernadette across the shop until they approached Amy's booth. Upon hearing People walking towards her, Amy immediately put on her emotionless expression and moved her head to look up at the two girls approaching her.

"Hi, Amy," Bernadette said with a shy smile. Amy returned her friend's gaze, her eyes slightly duller than they normally were.

"Hello," she replied, moving her gaze from Bernadette to her Bestie. Penny shifted uncomfortably when she felt both her friend's gazes on her.

"Mind if we sit?" Penny asked nervously, desperate to get the attention off of her. She was forced to ask with fake enthusiasm, which, fortunately for her, Amy missed. She nodded her consent and Penny and Bernadette took their seats; Penny next to Amy and Bernadette across form them. Scooting forward slightly, Penny gently rubbed Amy's shoulders, which were only accessible due to the fact that she turned her whole body to gaze out the window once again. After a moment of silence, Penny spoke up.

"Ames, look at me," Amy complied and turned to her Bestie just as she dropped her arms down to her sides. "What's wrong?" the blonde asked. Bernadette remained quiet, as did Amy. Penny's intense gaze on Amy made her feel uncomfortable and as a result, she squirmed in her seat slightly. Amy was silent for several moments, contemplating whether to answer her or not. When Amy still hadn't spoken after that, Penny repeated her question.

Amy silently prayed to herself, hoping something would happen so she had the opportunity to avoid Penny's questioning for a bit longer. Sure enough, seconds later, Charlie came with two steaming cups; one in each hand, the steam masking her pale face slightly.

"Here ya go, two cups of hot chocolate," she said with a smile. "I didn't know if you wanted to- go cups or not, so I just assumed you'd be staying." Bernadette smiled her thank you and carefully accepted her cup, wrapping both hands around it and inhaling the sweet smell. Penny looked over at Bernadette with a raised eyebrow. Hot chocolate didn't interest Amy at the moment, so she kept her gaze out the window, lost in thought.

"Penny," Bernadette said, momentarily forgetting May was sitting with them. 'This is my old high school friend, Charlie. Charlie, this is my best friend, Penny." She gave her a warm smile while introducing Penny, to which Charlie reciprocated the look.

"Oh," was all Penny could say at the moment. After a short pause, she forced a friendly smile towards Bernadette's friend. Amy had moved her gaze back to the red head for a moment, only to acknowledge her presence with a slight nod, before she moved her gaze to her Bestie who appeared to be squirming with discomfort.

Charlie, noticing penny's reluctance to converse, turned to Bernadette, her smile never faltering.

"I'll let ya enjoy your cocoa. Best in Pasadena! It was nice meeting ya guys, and great ta see ya Bernie," the red head gently slapped Bernadette on the shoulder and the awkwardness seemed to radiate off of her body as Charlie left. Penny let out a shaky breath and turned to Amy, who shifted her gaze back out the window once again.

"You okay, Sweetie?" she asked sweetly. Amy turned then, looking her strait in the eyes; her lips forming a strait line.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Amy replied bluntly, although quietly. Penny looked surprised, but without argument, she got up and watched Amy leave. As Penny sat back down, she noticed Amy's phone vibrating and the screen lit up. She subconsciously bit her lip, silently debating whether or not to intrude and see who was texting Amy. Slowly, without thinking, she leaned over and read Amy's screen, a shocked expression on her perfect face.

**"Amy, I thought what we were doing was what you wanted? Do you not want it anymore? That would take a lot of the pressure off of me, but why were you so angry at me? I told you about the effects you had on me, yet you continued to believe all the people who told you that you were not, in their terms, 'beautiful'. So when I showed you, you got angry at me. What happened? –S." **

Right after Penny finished reading the test, Amy's phone vibrated and another text came through, much to Penny's puzzlement. _Did she even want to read the next one?_

**"I think as my Girlfriend, you owe me an explanation. I am not angry with you, upset, yes. But no, I am not angry with you. I just care about you…immensely…and hope you are not too angry with me. If it helps, I think you do meet everyone's standard for 'beauty', but in my book, you far surpass that standard." **

After finishing reading the last text, Penny's expression turned to one of confusion.

"Does that mean they're back together?" she asked Bernadette, even though she didn't read any of the texts. After replacing Amy's phone back into it's original position, Penny turned her attention back to Bernadette.

"What?" Bernadette asked in response.

"The text," Penny attempted to explain. "Does it mean they're back together again?"

"Who's dating again?" Amy asked, clueless as she approached the booth. Bernadette fixed her eyes on the table, fully aware that Penny was talking about her and Sheldon, regardless of the fact that she hadn't directly read the text messages between the two.

"Oh, nothing sweetie," Penny replied nervously, unsure of whether she should tell Amy she knew or not.

Amy wanted to say, _"If it's nothing than why can't you tell me?" _However, she was too exhausted to argue so when Penny got up, she took her seat back against the wall and resumed looking out the window, ignoring her phone and the fact that it vibrated once again.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

*** ****I realize that my chapters aren't exactly in order in this story, and I apologize. I just have so many ideas but this is where I want my story to go, so all you need to know is that right now, we are in season four where the Shamy friendship is dating although they don't know if that makes sense. The next chapter we should be in season 5. I fully intend to not base this story off of the episodes in order, as that is just not how my mind works evidently. Thank you for all the reviews, it means a lot to me(: **

**By the way, I don't own The Big Bang Theory or any of its characters.**

***Amy's POV**

"Sheldon, I didn't even drink anything." I replied calmly from where I stood in the living room.

"Nonsense," he told me, causing my irritation to rise. "You always drink on Girls' night." His logic wasn't totally correct.

"Sheldon," I stated bluntly. "Your logic is flawed. I never drank at Girls' night last night. I only ever started drinking at Girls' night a few months ago, and it wasn't even every time. You can even ask Penny." My tone was confident, despite my irritation. Regardless, Sheldon scoffed at me.

"That is the most illogical thing I have ever heard. I will not ask Penny and do you know why? I'll tell you why." He didn't even pause for me to answer and I sighed inwardly, not up for argument. "Penny was most likely intoxicated, as it was Girls' night and that's what you females seem to enjoy." Despite my irritation, I decided to make my thoughts vocal.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that she drank." The retort rolled off my lips swiftly before I thought about it and I paused, almost immediately regretting it.

"Did she though?" I was almost positive that he knew what the answer was; he just wanted me to confirm that he was right.

"Yes," I grumbled underneath my breath.

"Exactly, so my point remains clear. You shouldn't have driven home under those circumstances. Driving with two intoxicated people in the car while there's a possibility you could have been intoxicated as well was not safe." I opened up my mouth to spit a comment in his face when he attempted to cut me off.

"You should have…" before he could finish, I snapped at him.

"No, you listen to me. You can't tell me what to do. I WASN'T INTOXICATED. I took driver's training. I WAS FINE. And another thing, when did we start assuming Bernadette was intoxicated too?!" I was so ready to leave him right then and there.

"Was she…?" I silently nodded, afraid that if I spoke I wouldn't be able to control my anger. "My point is," he continued calmly, "You should have called me to drive you back." And that's when I lost it.

"I should have called _you?! YOU _CAN"T EVEN DRIVE! I was NOT DRUNK Sheldon! I didn't have anything to drink! Not one thing! Not even water! Plus, having me drive (a person who DID NOT DRINK), is safer than having people who did drink like Penny and Bernadette drive." I inwardly groaned, knowing he would find something else to criticize me about.

"You didn't even drink water Amy?" He sounded so shocked. I knew he would ask me about that. "I would have expected a person like you to be more responsible about your health." I certainly was taken aback by his words.

"When did this become about my health?" he just shrugged. I thought for a moment, before I said "_A person like me?_" the anger was definitely evident in my tone of voice.

"Amy, while it may have been safer, you of all people should know that if you don't drink water, you could pass out of dehydration while driving and…" I didn't wait for him to finish.

"Sheldon," I was practically growling. He looked at me nervously before hastily finishing his sentence under his breath.

"Crashed," I looked at him, almost expecting him to say more. When he glanced back at me blankly, I decided to make my point clear to him.

"Sheldon," my voice was firm and I was not willing to argue this time. "I did not agree to become your girlfriend again so you could control every aspect of my life. I will drive where I want, when I want to. If you don't like that, just tell me and I will leave." I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye, so my gaze dropped to the floor; hot tears threatening to fall from behind my eyes.

Honestly, I didn't think I could handle it if Sheldon and I broke up again. If we had, sure we wouldn't have had to keep lying to our friends, but I was so heart broken the last time that I didn't want to experience that feeling again. Now that our bond is somewhat stronger, I thought it would be even more painful to go through. I silently prayed he would fight for our relationship, so we wouldn't have to go through that again.

"Amy," Sheldon said to me softly, walking towards me. "What I said wasn't suppose to be intended as controlling."

"It sure seems like it," I mumbled.

"I was merely concerned for your well-being. Amy, as you know, I am…quite fond of you…and I do not wish to risk loosing you over something as stupid as my touch phobia last night. Isn't that the reason you wanted to go drinking last night in the first place?" At that moment, I didn't know what to say. I felt guilty, even though I didn't know why. It was almost as if I was hunting and I almost scared away a baby dear, although it chose to stay, regardless.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked shyly. I glanced at him skeptically, knowing that if I forgave him he would want to go back to what he was doing before, with the knowledge that I would forgive him.

"Alright," as I spoke the words he had been hoping for, his face lit up; a smile bigger than ever appeared on his lips. "But," I continued before he got too happy. He looked at me innocently and I continued.

"If I agree to forgive you, we can't go backwards, Sheldon." He looked at me with a confused frown so I decided to continue. "That means we can't go back to when there was no physical contact at all. I'm fine with going at your pace, as slow as it may be, but I will not accept re-installing our platonic relationship." He looked up at me with a disappointed look, a glimmer of gratefulness in his eyes.

"Thank you, Amy," his tone was quiet and I felt a lump form in my throat, unsure of how to respond.

"You're quite welcome," I replied, breathing a sigh of relief; another argument won by Amy Farrah Fowler. I didn't have time to rejoice for long, as I saw Sheldon walking slowly towards me, closing the distance between us.

"I will agree on those conditions if you let me do one thing," he stated boldly. I looked at him cautiously, weighing my options.

"Proceed," he nodded his consent at my reply and swept his eyes across my body. I could feel his breath on my neck as he looked down at me silently. My confusion eventually out weighed my curiosity and once I displayed my confusion, he moved even closer to me. He might as well have been standing right on top of me. His chest was pressed against mine and I fought the urge to squirm where I was standing.

"Sheldon," I breathed, carefully watching his every move.

"Shhh," he told me, not saying anything else.

"Sheldon," I repeated; my voice gentle.

"Amy!" he snapped. I could tell he was irritated. "I need to concentrate,"

"On what?" I asked him, feeling as if I was going to explode from the close proximity I had him in. He pretended not to hear my question, although I knew he did. Slowly, he gingerly wrapped his arms around me in a hug as tight as one could get from Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

"Amy, please don't leave me." He shyly whispered into my ear. I gently placed my hands around his neck and whispered into it.

"I wouldn't think of it," I felt Sheldon release a breath he had been holding, shortly before I felt something wet fall onto the back of my neck.

"Sheldon," I said, attempting to pull away from him slightly so I could look at him, but he wouldn't budge or let me move. "Are you okay?" I asked him gently.

"Yes Amy, thank you," from what I could tell, he was talking in his usual tone of voice. I was slightly hesitant to accept his answer, but after a moment of silence I decided to shrug it off, even though the feeling of worry in the pit of my stomach was still present. Sheldon immediately pulled away from me and I felt a wave of coldness surround me.

"Amy," his voice was barely above a whisper and I had to strain my ears to hear him. His gaze was on the ground and I kept my gaze focused on him for a moment before nodding my head for him to continue.

He must have seen me nod my head out of the corner of his eye because he decided to continue then.

"Can we maybe…talk about last night?" his tone was cautious and I raised a curious eyebrow, which he couldn't see due to the fact that his eyes were practically glued to the floor. I wasn't entirely sure how to respond to his request, so I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot and crossed my arms.

"Proceed," I used my usual emotionless tone of voice and as the sound of my voice rang out into the room, he lifted his head and brought his gaze to me, his cheeks stained red.

"Amy, are you mad at me?" his voice sounded almost…hurt. I thought for a moment before I uncrossed my arms and dropped them to my side, fiddling with the edge of my cardigan. _I could never stay mad at him, _I thought, _After all, I do love him. _Absent mindedly, from those thoughts my mind wandered to the events of last night, reliving every single word, touch and moment.

**#fb **"Do you not find me attractive at all?" I asked while turning around. What I saw when I turned around made me feel like I was dreaming, and before I had time to initially react, Sheldon broke the silence that we shared.

"Now do you feel the effects you have on me?" he asked shyly. I wordlessly nodded, still in shock. "Amy," he continued slowly. "I realize it is inappropriate, but I need you to realize that I honestly don't find you attractive because of your looks, as aesthetically pleasing as they are." I was stunned to silence for several moments and I could tell Sheldon was very anxious.

"You know looks don't concern me, so why must you always ask me if I find your looks 'aesthetically pleasing'? You should know the answer to that already." There was not a trace of condescension in is voice, only sincerity. I looked up to him, completely speechless once again.

"I…" I didn't get very far with that sentence because Sheldon cut me off.

"Amy, these effects you have on me… they happen more often than not. At completely inappropriate times as well." He hastily said the last part, probably hoping I would miss it. Lucky for him I caught every word he said.

"Wait a minute," I said, catching him by surprise. He cautiously looked at me, patiently waiting for me to continue.

"If you said the effects happen at inappropriate times AS WELL," I said this slowly, hoping he would get my point. "That means that you think there are appropriate times for this to occur. So, Sheldon, what are these appropriate times…?" I felt very proud of my logic skills and I silently waited for him to answer me.

"Uhm," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't understand the question." I noticed his eye twitching slightly and I rolled my eyes before playfully smirking at him.

"You and I both know that you fully understand that question." I decided to be bold and take a step towards him but he jumped back as if he was terrified of me. He then unconsciously licked his lips and my smirk grew.

"Amy," he said frantically. "You invaded my personal space,"

"You were the one who initiated the hug Sheldon,"

"It's not my fault,"

"Oh really," I said doubtfully. "Then whose fault was it?"

"Just because you're my girlfriend doesn't mean I won't give you any strikes Amy." His threat fell to the floor as I ignored it, irritation rising in my throat.

"Alright Sheldon, I give up." I said, half laughing in order to hide my irritation. "It's not as if I was going to touch you in any way that made you uncomfortable." At my words, he frowned and my confusion only grew. "What is it Sheldon?" I asked innocently in response to his frown.

"What exactly were you referring to?" he asked me quietly. I mentally back tracked my steps several times but I couldn't understand what he was talking about.

"I don't follow," I bluntly told him.

"Never mind," he said hastily and moved closer to the door. Before he could leave, I grabbed his wrist and he turned to face me. "Amy!" he said, shocked and trying to twist free. "Let me go!" he shrieked in an attempt to be free form my grasp. I stood firm and refused to let go of his wrist.

"Sheldon," I said. "I will not let go until you tell me what you meant." He rolled his eyes at me in response, huffing slightly.

"Fine," he grumbled, agitated. "When you said it wasn't like you were going to touch me where I was uncomfortable, what did you mean?"

"Um, I don't know, Sheldon," I honestly told him. He started frantically squirming again.

"I answered your question, if you don't let me go, then I will have no choice to…to…give you a strike!" he looked totally serious and I became really worried. I slowly let go of his wrist and he practically sprinted out of his room into the hallway, leaning against the wall.

"Is physical contact with me really that bad?" I screamed at him, slightly hurt. Sheldon's expression looked confused.

"Uhm," he said nervously, but before he could answer me, I stormed over to him and dragged him back into his room, unconcerned about the glares he was shooting my way.

"You look me right in the eye and tell me that I'm wrong," I demanded. He just looked at me blankly.

"Well, of course you're wrong," he answered after a moment of silence. I let out a shaky breath and his words and relaxed slightly. I would have been satisfied with his answer, had he not kept on going. "You're always wrong about…" I cut him off harshly.

"Excuse me? I'm ALWAYS WRONG? No, you're just afraid to BE WRONG, even when YOU ARE!" I didn't wait to hear his reply as I pushed past him, wanting to leave as quickly as possible. "I need a drink," I muttered under my breath, moving about the apartment to find Penny.

**#p **"I'm not sure," I said as he blankly stared at me in response.

"How could you not be sure if you're angry at me?" he innocently asked me. I shrugged my shoulders and he nervously licked his lips again. "Your body language indicates that you are," he pointed out and I cast my gaze on the floor for a moment, considering my next words carefully.

"My body language?" I failed to hide my irritation toward him in my reply, but he seemed to miss it.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually when people cross their arms, sigh, or shift their weight from foot to foot; they're angry, irritated, or impatient. Seeing as how there's no reason for you to be impatient, you're either angry or irritated. I doubt you're irritated, as you're getting the opportunity to talk to the Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper, so based on my observations, you are indeed, angry at me." I rebalanced my weight onto both feet and titled my head towards him, staring at his face blankly.

"But I'm not doing any of those things," I attempted to prove my innocence with my words but he saw right through me.

"But you were just a moment ago," I sighed loudly in frustration, not caring what he said anymore.

"Look Sheldon," I was going to try to reason with him on this. "Let's just forget that it happened!"

"You're tone indicates you're angry," he continued to argue. I felt a retort growing on my lips.

"Since when were you an expert on emotions?" I snapped.

"I never said I was," he said. "But, if you must know, I did some research." He avoided eye contact with me and I knew he was hiding something from me.

"Why would the brilliant mind of Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper wish to spend time researching something as simple as emotions instead of figuring out the mysteries of the universe?" I was more curious now than angry and my tone showed it.

"It's not important," he said before licking his lips yet again and darting his eyes around the room. He tried to hide the fact that his eye twitched by turning his head and I shook my head slightly at his failed attempt.

"Come on Sheldon, tell me," I said quietly, trying my hardest not to scare him off again. He looked at me with a startled expression.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," he said nervously.

"It's not like you were researching emotions to know what kinds of things you would feel if we were having sex, so come on and tell me!" I pleaded playfully. He held a light frown on his face and looked up at me with those big blue eyes like a puppy would that's sorry for peeing in the house. My stomach lurched in response.

"Heavens no," he said, trying to sound disgusted but not totally succeeding, "Would that be stupid?" he asked quietly.

"Of course it wouldn't," I replied. If Sheldon and I ever did have sex, I wouldn't care how we got there. I silently took a deep breath, mentally slapping myself for thinking that we would ever have sex.

"Oh," was all he replied before looking at me with a small smile on his face. I was so confused that I didn't register it at first. "I'm glad you're not mad at me," he said shyly. I snapped out of my thoughts as he spoke, allowing myself a small smile in response.

"I could never stay mad at you," I said simply, trying to burry my confusion. "Now come on, let's forget that last night's argument ever happened." Sheldon eagerly nodded and I grinned at him, glad that our dispute was over. Sometimes there was no winning with Sheldon and I didn't want to risk everything over something stupid. Abruptly, he turned to me with a wide smile and I raised an eyebrow towards him.

"Would you like to play Counterfactuals?" he excitedly suggested. I nodded my consent and he ran from where he stood in the living room to his room to retrieve our game. Absent mindedly, I grinned from ear to ear.

When Sheldon came back into the room, he was positively radiating with happiness. Setting the box on the coffee table in front of the couch, he turned to me with sparkling eyes.

"Can I go first?" he asked me, practically jumping up and down. I chuckled quietly and sat down on the couch in the middle spot, randomly selecting a card from the box.

"In a world where rhinoceroses are domesticated pets, who wins the Second World War…?" I asked. His excited smile faltered as he thought in silence for a moment, staring into space. After about 5 seconds, his face lit back up again as he turned his head to me to respond.

"Uganda," Once again I was mesmerized by his intellect.

"Defend," I said with full knowledge that he could. He gave me a look that told me I should know the answer, which I did, but nonetheless, he defended his answer anyway,

"Kenya rises to power on the export of rhinoceroses. A Central African power block is formed, colonizing North Africa and Europe. When war breaks out, no one can afford the luxury of a rhino. Kenya withers, Uganda triumphs."

"Correct, my turn." I kept my cool, emotionless expression as we continued playing, although inside I was delighted at the amount of fun that we were having at that moment. Sheldon then picked up a card and confidently read the next question to me.

"In a world where a piano is a weapon and not a musical instrument, on what does Scott Joplin play the Maple Leaf Rag?" I didn't even have to think about that question at all.

"Tuned Bayonetes," I answered simply. Sheldon's smile seemed a little brighter as he asked me to defend my answer.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. In truth, I didn't feel like I had to explain.

"You're right, my apologies." He said while putting the card back in its spot in the box. At some point during our game, Leonard entered the room, although I didn't notice him and I don't think Sheldon did either until he spoke.

"What the hell are you guys playing?" I was a little disturbed by his language and doubted he would understand if we explained our game to him. It didn't matter what I thought however, because Sheldon chose to respond regardless.

"It's a game we invented. It's called Counterfactuals." He sounded so excited about sharing our game and his smile made my stomach flip again, I decided to explain it in the end because Sheldon seemed to really enjoy telling people about our game.

"We postulate an alternate world that differs from ours in one key aspect and then pose questions to each other." I barely had time to finish my explanation before Sheldon cut in again.

"It's fun for ages eight to eighty. Join us." He had such a boyish smile on his face as he motioned Leonard over to play with us and it was hard for me to sit still and pretend that I wasn't in love with his smile.

"Alright," Leonard replied. "I like a good brain teaser. Give it a whirl." He walked over to us and sat in the chair next to the couch, holding a glass. I didn't pay much attention to him as I did to Sheldon as he picked a card and read it to him carefully.

"You're in luck, this is an easy one." I suppressed a giggle, thinking that it may be easy for him, but it would most likely not be easy for Leonard. "In a world where mankind is ruled by a giant intelligent beaver, what food is no longer consumed?" The answer was in my head within moments and I waited for Leonard to tell Sheldon that the answer was Cheese Danish,

"Uh, a BLT where the B stand for beaver? I don't know." Leonard's pathetic guess didn't surprise me; I knew he wouldn't get our game. Sheldon seemed equally disappointed as his smile faded and he slightly shook his head.

"Leonard, be serious. We're playing a game here." I nodded slightly, completely agreeing with Sheldon on the matter.

"I can figure this out, let's see. Um, well, beavers eat tree bark. The only tree bark I know that humans consume is cinnamon. So, I'll say cinnamon." This answer was even more pathetic than the last. As if that wasn't enough, he tried to sound confident when he answered. No wonder why he was always so caught up in sex with my Bestie.

"Incorrect. Obviously, the answer is cheese Danish." Sheldon said as he put the card back in its place. I knew Sheldon would get the answer right. I loved how smart he was.

"What?" Leonard asked, obviously clueless. I decided to explain it to him, even though he probably wouldn't understand.

"In a world ruled by a giant beaver, mankind builds many dams to please the beaver overlord. The low-lying city of Copenhagen is flooded, thousands die. Devastated, the Danes never invent their namesake pastry." I could feel Sheldon's eyes on me as I spoke. "How does one miss that?" I asked, more to Sheldon than Leonard. Sheldon remained silent and I turned my attention back to Leonard who was now giving Sheldon and I a confused expression.

"This is ridiculous. You're just making stuff up." I found Leonard's complain unnecessary, as Sheldon and I already knew that he was a sore looser.

"Is he always like this when he looses?" I asked, just for clarification. Sheldon scoffed at me while shuffling some cards.

"Oh, yes. You should've been here for the great Jenga tantrum of 2008." I raised a curious eyebrow at him, expecting him to explain but before he could, Leonard spoke up.

"You bumped the table and you know it." He had his eyes narrowed towards Leonard and I wonder why it was such a big idea. To avoid a potential argument, I decided to speak up.

"Perhaps it would be kinder to play a game more suited to his abilities." I suggested to Sheldon. At his blank stare, I continued, but this time to Leonard. "We'll close our eyes and count to ten while you hide." Sheldon seemed to like my suggestion as he gave me a small smile of approval. Leonard seemed more irritated than anything.

"I'm going to my room," he said while sighing.

"Very good, Leonard, but next time don't tell us where you're hiding." He didn't reply as he made his way to his room and I shrugged it off, turning back to Sheldon to resume our activity. We continued playing for about ten minutes before Leonard reappeared and left the apartment without a word.

"Amy," Sheldon said, disregarding our game after the distraction Leonard provided. "I just realized that in our excitement, we forgot to eat dinner." I nodded slightly, suddenly noticing how hungry I was. "I believe Leonard left to go to Priya's to spend some time with her and everybody else, I don't care what they're doing."

"Is that what Penny was talking about when she said that they were dating again?" I was more asking myself than him since I knew he wasn't there. Nonetheless, he figured I was talking to him.

"What?" he asked.

"Never mind," I replied. "Continue,"

"Very well then, Amy, what would you like to eat for dinner?" I paused, thinking this was a trick question. I tried my best to remember what Sheldon ate on Saturday's, but as it was usually laundry night, I had no clue what he ate. I decided that I wasn't in the mood to cook anything or get Chinese, so I suggested the first thing that popped into my head.

"How about we order a pizza?" I asked casually. He just scoffed at me like I predicted he would.

"Amy, I'm a physicist, not a hippie. We just had pizza on Thursday." I honestly didn't care what we ate at this point so I decided to let his comment go.

"Alright Sheldon, What do you suggest we eat?" I asked him cautiously, hoping that his idea didn't require an insane amount of work. He was quiet for a moment, his lips pressed together in a thing line. Then, he snapped his fingers and he seemed to come to life once again.

"Amy, could we maybe have spaghetti with little pieces of hot dog cut up in it?" he enthusiastically asked me with a hopeful grin. I inwardly groaned, making spaghetti took a lot of work, but if it made him happy, I was wiling to do it for him.

"Of course we can, Sheldon." I said with a gentle smile. His face lit up at my words even more, if that was even possible.

"Thank you, Amy!" he said, jumping off of his spot on the couch. He proceeded to grab my wrist, much like I did to him last night and drag me into the kitchen with him. I marveled at how comfortable he seemed to be with touching my wrist. This was like a dream. Before I even knew what was going on, he was fumbling about in the kitchen, having let go of my wrist already. He was grabbing pots and packages of noodles and hotdogs when I looked back at him. Having set the packages on the counter, he then grabbed a few jars of spaghetti sauce.

"Amy, while I get this ready, please feel free to wash your hands." I was confused at his words. If he wanted me to wash my hands, he should wash his hands as well since he was just holding my wrist. Despite my confusion, I was delighted by the prospect of spending more time with him, even if that meant I had to cook. Nodding, I moved over to the sink to wash my hands. As I was scrubbing my hands, I listened intently to Sheldon who was now cutting open the hot dog package while humming a tune unfamiliar to me.

"Sheldon," I said over my shoulder, causing him to stop humming. "What are you singing?" he looked at me in the mist of his actions, a look of disbelief on his face.

"You know I don't sing," he sounded so shocked that I would ask a question like that. I rolled my eyes as I shut the water off and dried my hands.

"Right, so, what were you humming?" I turned around to face him, but his back was to me as he was preparing the ingredients for our meal. He was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"Oh, that silly little thing…? It's just an old rhyme I hum when I'm happy." I raised my eyebrow at him, even though he couldn't see it. This was interesting. Penny never mentioned anything about a rhyme, and she's been to a lot of the video game nights.

"You never hum those while you're playing video games. Does that mean that they don't make you happy?" I knew full well what the answer was, but with Sheldon, you never know.

"First of all, your assumption is invalid, as you are not with me every single time that I play video games. Secondly, I only hum it when I'm experiencing a different kind of happiness." I expected him to fully deny my question, but this was surprising. I walked closer to him, unsure of what to do. I saw his body tense slightly.

"A different kind of happiness…?" I cautiously asked.

"Yes," he replied in the same tone as when I was sick and I asked him if he wanted to rub something on my chest. He is completely oblivious sometimes. I shook my head slightly in response. He turned to me then, startled by the close proximity we shared with each other. He had a big pot in his arms and handed it to me, asking me to fill it with water. I complied and moved over to the sink, filling the pot with warm water.

The two of us worked in silence for a little bit, with me checking if the water was boiling and him preparing the hot dogs and noodles. Our silence was quite comfortable and I found myself subconsciously smiling to myself, relishing in the time that we were able to spend together.

By the time we finished making our dinner and eating it, the time was 8:30. As I was cleaning up with him, I remembered that today was Saturday.

"Sheldon, would you like me to leave?" I asked abruptly, earning me a confused look from Sheldon.

"Of course I don't," he replied, sounding slightly offended. He was wiping down the island with a disinfectant wipe so he didn't see the confused look that I gave him.

"Well, tonight's laundry night, and I just assumed that you would want to spend the prevening pre-sorting and presoaking." He looked up at me then, a smile on his face. He laughed to himself quietly before replying to me.

"Amy, it is far past the prevening. If I had those plans in mind, I would have done them a long time ago and asked you to leave then. Additionally, you are my girlfriend, regardless of what I tell our friends, and I have made accommodations for you in my life. As on Friday you told me you would be spending time with me today, I used my Friday night to pre-sort and pre-soak instead of playing video games. Also, Leonard was at Priya's and Wolowitz and Koothrapoli went to a movie with Bernadette so Vintage Video Game Night wasn't an option exactly.

"Wait," I said. Normally, I would be moved by his words, but I needed to clarify something first. "You're telling me that you tell our friends that we're not dating?" I asked slowly.

"Why…? Do you tell them we are?" he asked in return. I was so confused at the moment

"Well, no. But you just said I was your girlfriend, but yet, you tell our friends that I am your friend who's a girl but not your girlfriend. I don't follow." He sighed exasperatedly before replying.

"Amy, you seem to be forgetting how we met. We met through a dating website. Ergo, we are 'dating' and I have the right to call you my girlfriend, but publicly, at this time, as you have chosen not to inform our friends that we have gotten back together, we are not a couple per say." I did not get his logic at all.

"That doesn't even make sense." I told him. He shrugged at me.

"Society doesn't make sense." I sighed, too confused to argue.

"Sheldon, you cannot tell me that we're dating but not a couple. That's like saying an orange is round but not orange. When you asked me to be your girlfriend, I was ecstatic."

"Then why did you break up with me?" he asked me quietly. I looked at him with a look of puzzlement on my face.

"Well, you proposed only electronic communications. Normal humans don't do that." He just rolled his eyes at me in response. "So, are we dating or not?" I asked him quickly, hoping to get a strait answer from him.

"Indeed we are," he replied. "Which is why I still have this," he said, moving to his desk and pulling out the Relationship Agreement. "Amy, you do know that we never signed it when you broke up with me, right? So, technically, we never broke up." I was utterly speechless. I completely forgot about the Relationship Agreement.

"You mean you never signed it," I corrected. "I vividly remember signing it, in my frustration."

"That doesn't matter," he told me quickly. "It's done and you're mine again." I love it when he calls me his.

"Oh Sheldon, I don't know what to say," I said in response.

"Yes, well, I believe social convention indicates that I say you're welcome." He put his cleaning stuff back under the sink and turned to me, giving me his full attention.

"What would you like to do now?" he simply asked. I pursed my lips, thinking for a moment, before an idea came to me.

"How about we watch one of your star war-trek, things…." I suggested, my grin widening at his shocked expression.

"Can we?" he asked with so much enthusiasm. I nodded my consent and he grinned back at me excitedly. "You're going to love Star Trek!" he told me over his shoulder while running to his room to get the DVD. I chuckled to myself as I moved to go sit back down in the spot next to his on the brown, leathery couch. Moments later, he came back, clutching the film in his hands and grinning from ear to ear.

"I wasn't sure which one you'd like the best, so I just picked out one that I'm sure you'll love!" he popped the disc in the DVD player and turned to me once again.

"I almost forgot," he said as he ran back to his room. He reappeared seconds later with a box of Red Vines in his hands. I watched him as he set them on the coffee table in front of me and sat down beside me in his spot.

"Would you like something to drink? I have Yoo-hoo." Normally, I would expect this kind of behavior from Sheldon, but then he winked at me. My stomach flipped in response.

"Yes please," I tried to sound casual, giving him a small smile. He turned and happily trotted back to the kitchen to get my beverage. While his back was to me, I quickly grabbed a red vine from the box and shoved it in my mouth.

"Here you go Amy," he said just as I swallowed the delicious red candy. He handed the glass to me and I smiled at him.

"Thank you," I replied, taking a generous sip.

"You're welcome." He said formally, picking up the remote by the DVD played and sitting down on his spot. Lazily, he grabbed a red vine and placed it in his mouth at the same time as he pressed the play button.

As the beginning credits started playing, I couldn't help but notice how fake and computer animated the movie was. I honestly had no clue why he enjoyed the movies so much.

To appease him however, I kept my eyes locked onto the screen for the majority of the time, with my eyes occasionally wandering to his mouth that was almost always lazily chewing on a red vine.

I made it about ¾ of the movie before my eyes started to turn droopy and I felt sleepy. Gently sighing to myself, I quietly placed my head against Sheldon's shoulder, feeling content. It was a lot of work to stay awake and I almost didn't notice how he didn't tense as I put my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and focused on drifting off to sleep then.

I was only about half way asleep when I heard someone come into the apartment and I felt Sheldon tense.

"Oh, Amy, you'll never believe this," The voice was Penny's, but she suddenly stopped talking and I heard her walk out of the apartment, gently closing the door behind her.


End file.
